University of Maine System Chancellor Richard Pattenaude presented his highly awaited recommendations to university trustees Monday on ways to plug a budget gap that is predicted to grow to $43 million by the fall of 2012.
There were no surprises in his report.
The document focuses largely on something that hasn’t happened in recent years — boosting student enrollment. This is touted as a revenue-generating strategy. The only problem, of course, is that Maine is a poor state that is not growing in population. There has not been a surge in enrollment at University of Maine campuses and tying a predicted budget deficit to a hoped for enrollment increase is, some would argue, wishful thinking.
I’ve written before about this issue when recommendations were made by three different groups on ideas for cost savings for the University system. At that time, my major criticism was that everyone was ignoring the fact that Maine just has too many campuses.
Chancellor Pattenaude proposes to attract more students by pricing tuition right (whatever that means), expanding certain high-demand programs (like nursing and engineering) and making more classes available online.
Hmmm, let’s see — I seem to recall graduating from the University of Maine at Orono in 1977 and I distinctly remember there being a collage of engineering at that time. I’m not sure how focusing on nursing now is going to turn things around for the university system.
As the Portland Press Herald notes, the plan seems to contain a lot of the things recommended by a group led by former Central Maine Power Co. chief David Flanagan. His task force issued a 67–page document that basically urged Maine’s seven public universities to cooperate in cost-cutting.
Duh.
Pattenaude says the same thing — let’s try cost-cutting. He proposes to free some employee wages for a couple of years, eliminate some classes where only a few students are enrolled anyway, and try to offer more classes online.
It all sounds good — doesn’t it?
The problem is that it’s like putting a bandaid on a broken finger. It looks good but just doesn’t solve the problem. You’re not going to save $43 million by trimming the edges with cost-cutting and hoping all of a sudden that you’ll attract thousands of more students. It’s a fantasy.
The issue that no one is addressing because it’s politically unpopular is that Maine just has too many campuses. There is no need to have seven separate university campuses in Maine — that is at least three or four too many!
Until someone has the courage to propose that we close a campus or two (or more), the University system will continue in the red. And no amount of bandaids will stop it.
Pattenaude’s lofty recommendations are not going to solve the university budget woes. Instead of using a scalpel, he should be using an axe.
Comments