Higher Education Faces Grim Future Without Changes, Officials Warn

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Members of the Post-Secondary Education Subcommittee held a work session Wednesday.

By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD — The chair of the University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees painted a very bleak picture of the future of higher education in the state on Wednesday.

Appearing before a sub-committee of the House Education Committee reviewing Gov. Chris Sununu’s plan to merge the university system with the Community College System of New Hampshire, Joe Morone said the state has begun the process later than it should have and is in a weak position to be addressing the challenges the university system faces in the coming years.

Without significant changes, he said, several higher education institutions in the state face financial failure.

Morone said higher education has been a growth business since the GI Bill, but is now contracting. He said the university system has developed a plan to cut 10 percent of its costs in the next few years to be financially viable.

Morone noted the higher education systems in the state are overbuilt for the state’s population.

Morone said there are three major challenges facing higher education both in New Hampshire and nationally: fewer high school graduates, growing demand for greater financial aid, and greater competition for students with other colleges.

He noted the number of students drops off a cliff in a few years and remains in that range for a generation.

“We as a state are in a position of disadvantage,” Morone said, noting 60 percent of high school graduates going to college enroll in out-of-state institutions making New Hampshire the second highest exporters of students in the country.

“We’re entering into this crisis as the second most expensive public higher educational institution in the county,” Morone said, and with the competition from other New England schools and outside the region, tuition rates can no longer be raised to produce greater revenue. He said tuition rates should be lowered.

He urged the subcommittee to move forward saying the state should have begun the process of consolidating higher education five years ago but said the two systems need to have a cushion as they begin the process which will take time and investment.

Sununu cut funding for the two systems by $17.5 million over the next biennium.

Morone said the next chancellor does not need to find budget cuts when he or she is trying to begin the process of merging the two systems.

Morone along with Susan Huard, interim chancellor of the community college system of New Hampshire, Donald Birx, president of Plymouth State University, and Catherine Provencher, Chief Administrative Officer of the university system, addressed the subcommittee.

All of the higher education officials urged the lawmakers to at least retain current funding for the two systems as they begin the process, and all said a great deal of planning will be needed to ensure the merger is done right.

Huard said there are a lot of gory academic details to work out in any higher education merger and gave several examples indicative of the different missions the two systems have.

“What can you do to preserve the missions of the two entities while having an appreciation of regional needs,” Huard said. “Our regions are quite distinctive and (you need to consider) how to preserve those regional needs for both businesses and residents.”

Huard said she came from the Connecticut higher education system to New Hampshire, and that state has been working for more than 10 years to merge its higher education systems in what was supposed to be a five-year plan.

She said the state did not involve all the stakeholders in the initial discussions and the opposition was quick and fierce.

She urged lawmakers to include all stakeholders in the discussions and also to take the time needed to do the job right.

After Alaska merged its two higher education systems, as time went on there were fewer community college students because it became less affordable, she said.

“There are several areas you should take into consideration,” Huard said. “What is the best way to bring the systems together and bring them together so it makes sense? How do you do that and what you think about is very important.”

Under Sununu’s plan, a 15-member board with five representatives from the university system, five from the community college system and five he would appoint would govern the two systems as they develop a plan for the merger.

The board would begin governing the two systems July 1 and the members would need Governor and Executive Council approval.

The board would search for a chancellor who would function much like a CEO.

Having the right people on the board is key, said Morone.

“Each board has to intelligently pick the five most qualified representatives to serve on the new board and there’s an equal burden on the governor,” Morone said, “and immediately they need to get on to the task of selecting a chancellor as quickly as possible.”

“This is not a one-year task, or a five-year task or 10 years,” Morone said. “It is a forever task.”

Sub-committee member Rep. Mel Myler, D-Hopkinton, said the information from the officials was sobering.

“I don’t know if this needs to be a single board the governor wants,” he said, “but these two systems have been very clear there needs to be somebody, somebody needs to look at the mission of higher education in this state.”

He said the face of higher education is changing as it has to deal with multiple types of students.

“How we are going to meet the needs of this diverse population of students,” Myler said, has to be the focus. Whether that is through one board and one system will be determined down the road, he said.

“We need to have a conversation beyond one system or multiple,” Myler said, “We need to figure out what we want from higher education.”
Morone agreed but said there is no tomorrow and unless the state is willing to invest tens of millions of dollars in these institutions, some are going to start failing financially.

“We have too much cost spread out over too many institutions,” Morone said. “We need to put the fire out in the house before we redesign the kitchen.”

House Education Committee Chair Rep. Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, noted the sub-committee has to report to Division II of the House Finance Committee by next week laying facts and findings.

“Time is not on our side,” Ladd said. “It’s a little bit scary the position we are in.”
The sub-committee will meet again Friday to hear another presentation and begin work on its report to the finance committee.

Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.

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