State of the University address

[GCWaters]

I agree, but can you be more specific?

Sure: Low enrollment programs will either be gone or consolidated with other programs. Departments will either be eliminated or consolidated with other departments. The difference between eliminated and consolidated will be level of outside grants/contracts, particular importance to the state, or centrality to R1 status.

Colleges will be consolidated with other colleges. Look for at least two fewer colleges.

New programs will (likely) be added, but only if projected enrollment numbers are extremely good.

My opinion, based on what I'm seeing, but I'd put money on all of those things. DB left a mess, to be totally honest. Cook is having to take drastic measures--that DB should have taken--to clean it up.

[GCWaters]

Doubling down on recruitment/retention, enhancing distance/continuing ed (on-line), and redefining or eliminating programs are the way out of this. A big part of the issue is that ND has way too many colleges and universities, and I’d like to know what is being done to address this fundamental problem by Bismarck. My guess is nothing, as long it just hurts NDSU …

"Doubling down on recruitment/retention, enhancing distance/continuing ed (on-line)," is all a big part of it, but things are too far gone at this point...eliminations will have to occur. The number of colleges/universities is definitely an issue, but until the constitution is changed, nothing is going to happen. Pretty sure that even Chapo's ideas would require a constitutional change.

[The_Sicatoka]

I'll add a third vote to Sic and TSF...NDSU is going to look very, very different a year from now....

UND went through this process in 2017. It was painful. But today, it's for the better.

NDSU will find its way through this.

[The_Sicatoka]

Valley St/NDSCS > NDSU
Mayville/Lake Region > und
Williston & Dickinson > Bismarck St

4 ND College's..... Boom Done.

NDSU
und
minot st
Bismarck St

You're not wrong with your goal, but most of that requires amending the State constitution, Article VIII, Section 6.

[kab1one]

Sure: Low enrollment programs will either be gone or consolidated with other programs. Departments will either be eliminated or consolidated with other departments. The difference between eliminated and consolidated will be level of outside grants/contracts, particular importance to the state, or centrality to R1 status.

Colleges will be consolidated with other colleges. Look for at least two fewer colleges.

New programs will (likely) be added, but only if projected enrollment numbers are extremely good.

My opinion, based on what I'm seeing, but I'd put money on all of those things. DB left a mess, to be totally honest. Cook is having to take drastic measures--that DB should have taken--to clean it up.

I agree that DB left a mess in that he was not quick to begin the cutting process when enrollment started to drop pre covid. It appears enrollment peaked at 14,747 in 2014 and had already fallen 10plus % before covid hit. Fall 2022 enrollment is down 17% from the 2014 high. 12,242 most recent fall number.

Question- What does each student generate NDSU in tuition and state aid? $15-20k would be my guess Each student generates a profit to the university (use business versus government accounting), so a 2,500 student drop, leads to funds available to reinvest in the university.

It should be noted the growth in programs was begun by Dr. Chapman. In his effort to grow the enrollment, research and credibility of NDSU, many programs, both grad and PHD were added that may not have grown enough to self substain themselves. As a resulting this growth in programs was a future issue that DB inherited, but didn't realize the impact of the music slowing....

[The_Sicatoka]

he (i) refused to do anything other than across the board cuts (to avoid hard decisions)

Whistling past the graveyard is not a solution but ... academic administrator gonna academic administrator*.

I have a strong suspicion that this lack of action is why the SBHE did not renew DB. The SBHE had to have seen this slow motion crash coming.


*Remember: UND's cuts came from an acting president (former governor Schafer), and a former corporate CFO and Congressman named president (Kennedy).

[GCWaters]

I agree that DB left a mess in that he was not quick to begin the cutting process when enrollment started to drop pre covid. It appears enrollment peaked at 14,747 in 2014 and had already fallen 10plus % before covid hit. Fall 2022 enrollment is down 17% from the 2014 high. 12,242 most recent fall number.

Question- What does each student generate NDSU in tuition and state aid? $15-20k would be my guess Each student generates a profit to the university (use business versus government accounting), so a 2,500 student drop, leads to funds available to reinvest in the university.

It should be noted the growth in programs was begun by Dr. Chapman. In his effort to grow the enrollment, research and credibility of NDSU, many programs, both grad and PHD were added that may not have grown enough to self substain themselves. As a resulting this growth in programs was a future issue that DB inherited, but didn't realize the impact of the music slowing....

In terms of tuition, we've been using a figure of 100 students being roughly the equivalent of one million dollars. That's what our now annual cuts are based on. The formulas keep the state appropriation separate based on the view, I think, that those dollars fund more infrastructure than direct program costs. Estimates of profitability of a program doesn't include those revenues.

Growth did indeed begin with Chapman, and a lot of it was underfunded or never funded at all. A few of those programs were removed, but many are still here. DB definitely inherited them and their issues, but he really chose to look the other way and not address them. I get that alumni love him, especially sports minded alums, and he was wonderful in that regard. The capital campaign successes are nothing short of amazing. But he was at a loss in many ways as to what to do with academics and internal campus issues. If he'd hired a strong provost, got out of the way and let them manage the academic side, we probably could have avoided this.

[GCWaters]

Whistling past the graveyard is not a solution but ... academic administrator gonna academic administrator*.

I have a strong suspicion that this lack of action is why the SBHE did not renew DB. The SBHE had to have seen this slow motion crash coming.


*Remember: UND's cuts came from an acting president (former governor Schafer), and a former corporate CFO and Congressman named president (Kennedy).

Someone on campus is supposed to have said last month that we needed an Ed Schafer in the last few years to have fixed this....

[HerdBot]

Athletic Department is getting a 4% cut or about 200 grand. Poorly attended programs to be cut. They want to focus more online in the future, which is smart. Its a strong national brand

https://www.inforum.com/news/fargo/n...illion-deficit

[The_Sicatoka]

Slide 11, sub-bullet 3: "Athletics budget reductions"

NDSU Pres. Cook put this out to your campus earlier today.