Engstrom stepping down

[bgbigdog]

Let's keep the torches and pitchforks @ the ready. There are a number of regents that need to step down as well given their contributions to this cluster.

Hopefully the governor is an eGriz reader or is paying attention to all that constitutes this level of malfeasance.

 

[br fan]

MSU will be offering $24 million in tuition waivers this year. Whereas "tuition waivers" assisted roughly about 2,000 FTE students to attend each school "way back when," now its about 2,000 at UM and about 4,000 at MSU. MSU is simply buying a large part of its enrollment increases from UM.

I read an article or an opinion piece concerning this somewhere during the last funding cycle. The article discussed UM needing to decrease tuition waivers to balance its budget, MSU recognizing they could take advantage of the situation by increasing its tuition waivers and in essence purchasing a big part of its enrollment increase from UM as 75 noted, and the legislature/BOR then paying for it with less money to UM and more money to MSU to account for MSU's increased enrollment. The article discussed how the actions MSU were taking were exasperating UM's problems, argued that those actions may make sense in a for-profit world when trying to run "UM out of business", but asserted the legislature/BOR should not be rewarding MSU for those actions when allocating funding in an academic setting.

 

[kemajic]

MSU will be offering $24 million in tuition waivers this year. Whereas "tuition waivers" assisted roughly about 2,000 FTE students to attend each school "way back when," now its about 2,000 at UM and about 4,000 at MSU. MSU is simply buying a large part of its enrollment increases from UM.

I read an article or an opinion piece concerning this somewhere during the last funding cycle. The article discussed UM needing to decrease tuition waivers to balance its budget, MSU recognizing they could take advantage of the situation by increasing its tuition waivers and in essence purchasing a big part of its enrollment increase from UM as 75 noted, and the legislature/BOR then paying for it with less money to UM and more money to MSU to account for MSU's increased enrollment. The article discussed how the actions MSU were taking were exasperating UM's problems, argued that those actions may make sense in a for-profit world when trying to run "UM out of business", but asserted the legislature/BOR should not be rewarding MSU for those actions when allocating funding in an academic setting.

A link would make this post useful.

 

[PlayerRep]

The vast majority of MUS Scholars in Montana are going to MSU.

" Seventy-two percent of the top academically ranked high school scholars from across the state have indicated they plan to attend Montana State University in the fall.

The Montana University System Honor Scholarship was awarded to 204 Montana high school seniors this year. While those students may use the scholarship at any of the state’s colleges, universities or two-year institutions, 146 of the 204 students have applied to attend MSU this fall, according to Ronda Russell, MSU director of admissions. That number is more than all of the other schools combined."

"Russell noted that for at least the last six years, the largest share of the MUS Honor Scholarship recipients have enrolled at MSU."

http://www.montana.edu/news/16204/msu-remains-school-of-choice-for-high-achieving-students-from-montana

 

[UMGriz75]

The article discussed how the actions MSU were taking were exasperating UM's problems, argued that those actions may make sense in a for-profit world when trying to run "UM out of business", but asserted the legislature/BOR should not be rewarding MSU for those actions when allocating funding in an academic setting.

A link would make this post useful.

Historically, though, Albrecht said the campuses used the waivers to undermine each other. Moving forward, the regents want to be certain the universities continue to use dollars efficiently, she said.

In other words, if a Montana student is already looking at going to one state school, and has the money, another state school shouldn't use a waiver to try to lure the student away.

"We don't want the schools to be battling each other, and apparently that has happened in the past," Albrecht said.

This year, UM has budgeted some $4.2 million for nonresident undergraduates, and MSU has budgeted some $11.3 million for the same. At the meeting, the regents didn't take any action on the waivers, but they did pledge to keep a close eye on their use.

http://missoulian.com/news/local/regents-urge-montana-campuses-not-to-use-tuition-waivers-in/article_5856f727-f183-5141-a9fb-12ee740b6cea.html

MISSOULA — The University of Montana will eliminate an estimated $2 million in tuition waivers, or scholarships, over the next two to four years to help reduce its projected shortfall, according to university officials.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/m-tuition-waiver-cut-will-help-make-up-shortfall-at/article_2d30802a-6312-52a7-91e9-afe8e21331f4.html

 

[wbtfg]

That sounds like a terrible strategy. Could you imagine if the football team said "in order to manage costs, we are going to cut 10 scholarships"?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[first11]

Suspect that BOR has members whose main qualifications are who they know....
Should anyone really be surprised that any appointees of a political system would be qualified.

 

[GrizGuy]

More degrees that lead to decent jobs is what is needed. UM has always ignored this but the new economy of this country demands it. The president understands this or he will fail. Medical field, business maybe some engineering. The liberal arts days ended when the cost of the education passed the ability to earn.

Disagree to some extent - there will always be a need for liberal arts related fields and the UM should stick to being the primary source for those.

The UM should not try to go head to head (engineering for example) with MSU because that's a wasted effort, IMO. Butte and Bozeman do it better, find different avenues don't just try to duplicate.

Build up an expand successful programs on campus that are also growing and in big national need. Biology, Sciences, Physical Therapy, Pharmacy, Business, Law, Forestry, and so on.

However yes, medical, computer technology, & other widely untapped fields they could go after - they should take a run at.

I'd like to see UM turn into an MBA factory. Cranking out a shit-ton of MBA's with emphases in areas related to the various undergrad degrees. If I had it to do over again, that's what I'd have done. Luckily I'm married to an MBA who saw her salary offers quadruple with that degree. Only takes two years, so it's not a super-tough program to build or complete. There are certainly enough connections (Nike, for instance, and various scientific companies involved in extractive industries, etc) to get an internship pipeline going... I think it'd be huge. And it would be something to add to the location for recruiting more and new students. Just a though.