St. Cloud State is in lots of trouble

Earlier this spring, it became clear that SCSU, aka St. Cloud State, was in need of a restructuring. Part of SCSU's problem was caused by poor decisions at the presidential level. That's been the case since 2010. That's when President Potter and Dean DeGroote decided to eliminate the Aviation Program. That's when SCSU hired Earthbound Marketing Group, aka EMG, for their rebranding efforts. SCSU paid EMG $338,000 for that. What a failure that turned out to be.

Then there was the Coborn's Plaza fiasco, in which SCSU signed a contract with a foundation to guarantee the foundation full occupancy for 20 years. This cost SCSU hundreds of thousands of dollars. It isn't that surprising that they're now experiencing additional financial difficulties.

The Star Tribune reports that financial difficulties continue. They're reporting "Previously, St. Cloud State University had publicly said two dozen faculty jobs would be phased out next year. Now some 100 more faculty will be cut within five years. An $18 million budget deficit in fall 2023 will grow to $24.5 million the next year. And the phasing out of a handful of majors has expanded as the school freezes fall enrollment on 70 programs and minors."

To be fair, this isn't totally SCSU's fault. Part of this is due to policies instituted by the state of Minnesota. Though Tim Walz won't admit this, Minnesota is slowly dying. Our population isn't declining like California's or New York's populations are declining. Minnesota is declining because wealth and talent are fleeing the state.

Capital goes where it's most welcome. Capital isn't welcome in Minnesota. Minnesota had a projected budget surplus of $17,600,000,000 dollars. The DFL spent all of that projected budget surplus, then the DFL raised taxes and fees an additional $8,600,000,000. After all the DFL tax hikes, the average Minnesotan is getting a Walz Check for $260. That's it. It's impossible to accumulate wealth when the DFL is intent on destroying wealth. But I digress. Let's return to the article:

The additional faculty reductions will come from more layoffs, as well as early separation agreements and unfilled vacancies. But only next year’s layoffs have been announced, leaving faculty anxious about what’s to come. "Everybody’s morale is just kaput," said Carolyn Hartz, department chair for philosophy, which is one major being phased out over the next few years.

A thriving state features thriving universities. for that, we need competitive tax rates, regulations that don't punish risk-takers and a shot at profits. Those things are reviled by Tim Walz and the DFL.

Happy Talk

In April, St. Cloud State President Robbyn Wacker announced the university will cut at least 20 faculty jobs for the coming year to help reduce the deficit. Plans also call for reductions of about 60 faculty in 2025, and reductions of about three-dozen faculty over the following three years. Administrators say the plan will help cut the deficit to about $9 million by fall 2025 and get the university to a surplus of about $5 million by fall 2026.

As a veteran of these types of reports, I can spot happy talk, aka dishonest spin, a mile away. Each year repeats a cycle. That cycle includes unrealistic projections of enrollment increases, followed by bigger-than-expected budget cuts, followed by 'unexpected' reshuffling of programs. The reshuffling of programs isn't really unexpected. It's just characterized that way. This is another trick in SCSU's book:

The student head count at St. Cloud State has dropped from more than 16,000 in 2013 to about 10,000 last fall. During that time, when the student head count fell about 38%, staff levels were only reduced by about 22%, Wacker said.

Why'd they pick to compare today's figures with FY2013 instead of FY2010? A: Because FY2010 had a headcount enrollment significantly higher than 2013. By picking 2013, they make the loss look smaller. Listen closely to this segment on declining enrollments within MnSCU:

The anchor talked about headcount enrollment at SCSU being 18,000 in FY2011. I'll come back to that in a little big. Next, here's another trick that SCSU uses:

Not only are the numbers dropping, the students are changing: Nearly 50% of students are part time, and about 25% are younger than 18 and enrolled in postsecondary classes.

That's why most universities use FYE enrollment, not head count enrollment. The FYE in FYE Enrollment stands for Full Year Equivalent. That figure gives the public a better prediction of the revenues coming into the university.

Accountability vs. gamesmanship

It's time to fire President Wacker. I'd fire the previous president but he left to become president at Western Kentucky University. It's time for MnSCU to hire someone with both a strong academic background and a strong business background. SCSU's next president should be a reformer, too. I don't need another president 'with a vision.'

SCSU needs a technician who knows how to a) make the University run smoothly and b) build the brand instead of going through rebranding. Building the brand requires hard work and discipline, things that are missing at SCSU. (They aren't entirely missing. I know people at SCSU who's be fantastic as SCSU's next president. There are other things that I don't have time for in this article but that I want to address. Check back tomorrow for that separate post.