Higher ed slides toward bankruptcy
Marty Trillhaase
October 25, 2009
Lewiston Morning Tribune
In the last 12 months, the $47.2 million Idaho has peeled away from its college and universities would have supported three schools the size of Lewis-Clark State College.
It comes close to two-thirds of what taxpayers just a year ago provided to Idaho State University and more than half of Boise State University's general tax fund appropriation.
It represents 47 percent of what Idaho citizens contributed toward the University of Idaho.
Before the economy collapsed last year, Idaho allocated $285 million among its four-year schools. That's only a sliver of their total support. Schools draw upon tuition, fees, grants and contracts.
Since then, however, higher ed often has endured the deepest holdbacks and budget cuts imposed on any Idaho agency. Today, state support for colleges and universities is down to $238 million - and that includes a $10 million infusion into the UI's research dairy program.
When you view the 20 percent cuts into higher education's ongoing budget in that context, it becomes clear Idaho is no longer merely trimming away the fat. It's sawing away fingers and toes, if not limbs.
No one will admit that, of course. Schools are struggling to preserve their core education missions. But like any amputee, Idaho's college and universities are feeling phantom pains:
You see it in the programs that are no longer offered. Administrators start balancing budgets by eliminating the courses that attract fewer people. With each round, academic diversity is narrowed.
You see it in fewer available class sections, forcing students to spend more time in school to secure a degree.
Even when faculty members are protected from cutbacks, you see it in larger class sizes because colleges are being asked to accommodate an influx of students looking to upgrade their skills during a season of rising joblessness.
You see it in constricted opportunities for students, who are told to pay more tuition in the midst of troubled times. Those who choose to continue their education take on mounting debts.
You see it in the students who aren't at school. In a state that struggles to introduce its young people to the promise of a college degree, the prospect of carrying heavy student-loan debt all too often becomes an insurmountable obstacle.
You see it in myriad ways college and university employees are asked to scale back on supplies, travel or even opportunities for training.
You see it in the way campus employees double up on responsibilities, taking up the slack for employees who are no longer there.
You may not see it in technological programs that are preserved only by relying on over-stretched staff and student efforts. But you will when the next wave of innovation arrives and it bypasses Idaho's colleges and universities.
So far, there's no sign of imminent collapse. But Idaho's budget remains seriously short of enough money to pay its obligations. Higher education remains the Idaho Legislature's target of least resistance.
At some point, incrementalism creeps into a fundamental change. Or, as Ernest Hemingway described it, Idaho's higher education will discover the two paths to bankruptcy: "Gradually at first, and then all of a sudden."
Originally posted at http://www.lmtribune.com/story/opinion/47311/
The editorial posted here is provided by permission of its original publisher and does not necessarily reflect the views of Idaho Public Television.