Bemidji State Discusses NACUBO Proposal to Address Budget Woes

Two years ago, both Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College faced budget deficits that were greater than 20% of their revenues, and which were the largest deficits within the Minnesota State system. BSU has been working to balance these deficits and increase enrollment, and on Friday the school held a campus forum discussing one proposal to do so.

The Governor’s proposed budget for the next biennium has been released, which is a no-growth proposal.

“And what that means for us is a net loss over the next two years for all of Minnesota State of about $70 million,” explained BSU and NTC President John Hoffman. “If we receive funding reductions from the state, then we will have to look to tuition increase possibilities in order to maintain the quality of education.”

The National Association of College and University Business Officers, or NACUBO, has created a long proposal to find further efficiencies and pathways for growth for BSU. One of the biggest ideas from this proposal would be to combine BSU and NTC.

“We would have to make sure that this takes care of our students as well as our employees,” Hoffman said. “The timing is good because we’ve just launched a comprehensive facility planning process, so we will be working with the members of our community, securing feedback, and we’ll be able to fold this recommendation into that comprehensive facility planning process.”

Hoffman says that so far, no final decisions have been made yet.

“No decisions at this point,” he emphasized. “So we’ve got a year-long process to engage in a study to look at whether that is a feasible possibility and then, if so, how we can do it to make sure that we’re taking care of our students and our employees.”

NACUBO proposed the discontinuation of several programs, including Geology, Special Education, and Music. But despite these suggestions, Hoffman says they are not proceeding with eliminating any additional programs.

“That’s not part of our plan. That’s not in the best interest of BSU as we move forward,” said Hoffman. “NACUBO’s recommendations for eliminating programs, they did include the two programs that we are working through right now, Spanish and Philosophy. So we will continue to discontinue those two programs.”

On the other hand, NACUBO is also recommending adding some programs such as Forestry and Wildlife Conservation.

“And I know it’s really hard to, at the same time, retrench a faculty member in one area while we’re doing a search for a faculty in another area,” Hoffman admitted. “But we’ve been focusing on how do we hire and reposition ourselves so that we’re well aligned with growth and that sustains our future.”

NACUBO, however, is reporting very low morale and high degrees of burnout among staff and students, which may continue to be an issue after the organization recommended cutting the University’s NCAA Division I hockey program.

“Let me be clear. I am fully committed to the future of hockey at Bemidji State University and in our community,” Hoffman added. “We do have some institutional efficiencies that we’re going to continue to explore. But NACUBO is giving us guidance about growth moving forward. That’s where our focus and attention is going to stay.”

BSU administration wants to emphasize that NACUBO’s suggestions were solely based on the school’s finances and that everything proposed was just an idea.