Alaska governor cuts higher ed funding by over 40%

11 July 2019, 11:51 AM

If this passes, it will have significant impact. The cuts, if enacted, will go into effect immediately.
Alaska system may never recover.

And while we're at it, here's a snippet from The Chronicle (I don't think this is available w/o a subscription):

Complicating the budget fiasco was that two-thirds of the state’s lawmakers were in one place, and one-third were in another. Dunleavy said last month that a special session to consider the vetoes would take place in Wasilla — his conservative home town —

Is this starting to be the new GOP tactic? Run away from the capital to avoid having to debate and go on record? Cowards. I wonder if they can see Russia from where they are.

11 July 2019, 12:15 PM

Daniel

"I do believe that the University of Alaska is resilient, I believe they have good leadership and I'd say give them a chance, " Dunleavy said. "I believe that they can turn the university into a smaller, leaner but still very, very positive, productive university here in the Northern Hemisphere."

11 July 2019, 12:48 PM

Piano*Dad

Alaska will lose most of its mobile resources. The best professors, the best administrators, and the best professional staff will move to greener pastures in the lower 48. That will be impossible to recover from in most peoples' lifetimes.

I suspect they'll lose most of the better (more mobile) students too.

The amount of uncertainty the governor has just chucked at the system is astounding.

11 July 2019, 01:25 PM

Steve Miller

Are their any states that don't have a state university system?

11 July 2019, 02:05 PM

Piano*Dad

No. Every state has a public system.

Some states have not cut funding too badly over time. Others have chopped real appropriations per student by 35% over the past thirty-five years.

Alaska currently appropriates $17,704 per student, down from $27,930 in 1985. But their current appropriation is huge in comparison to Virginia ($5,701), which is why the large percentage cut in Alaska will devastate the system. Dunleavy is in a big hurry.

The two worst funders are New Hampshire ($3,065), and ... drum roll please ... Vermont ($3,193). These are states who's students would get the biggest inflow of federal funds if we used federal $$ to make college "free."

Heck, even Mississippi ($5,301) out funds those New England states.

11 July 2019, 02:08 PM

Piano*Dad

By the way, if anyone is interested in where I'm getting these numbers, just click here:

SHEEO data

Click on "wave charts" in the menu. The national average will pop up. You can use the pull down menu to examine each state.

11 July 2019, 07:06 PM

QuirtEvans

quote:
Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
No. Every state has a public system.

Some states have not cut funding too badly over time. Others have chopped real appropriations per student by 35% over the past thirty-five years.

Alaska currently appropriates $17,704 per student, down from $27,930 in 1985. But their current appropriation is huge in comparison to Virginia ($5,701), which is why the large percentage cut in Alaska will devastate the system. Dunleavy is in a big hurry.

The two worst funders are New Hampshire ($3,065), and ... drum roll please ... Vermont ($3,193). These are states who's students would get the biggest inflow of federal funds if we used federal $$ to make college "free."

Heck, even Mississippi ($5,301) out funds those New England states.

Vermont, I know, takes a lot of out-of-state students. More students from our Massachusetts high school went to UVM than to any other non-Massachusetts state university.

11 July 2019, 08:15 PM

Piano*Dad

Vermont has such a small population base that they have to "import" students in order to have a public institution of any size (to achieve scale economies). But that doesn't mean they have to appropriate so little per in-state student. That's a choice, and it leads to really high in-state tuition.

The national average net tuition per student is $6,788. In Vermont, it's $16,727.

11 July 2019, 08:53 PM

CHAS

The flow of oil money stopped.
Residents got checks, not state taxes.
BP made huge staff cuts including my near to retirement brother-in-law and his daughter in late 2016.
Alaska is beyond broke is what my brother-in-law told me in January 2017.

11 July 2019, 10:24 PM

QuirtEvans

quote:
Originally posted by CHAS:
The flow of oil money stopped.
Residents got checks, not state taxes.
BP made huge staff cuts including my near to retirement brother-in-law and his daughter in late 2016.
Alaska is beyond broke is what my brother-in-law told me in January 2017.

The Permanent Fund still has a boatload of money. $65 billion in 2018. The state's total budget is a bit more than $8 billion per year, with a deficit of about $1.6 billion. So the Permanent Fund could cover roughly 40 years of deficits, just on current asset levels.

12 July 2019, 12:59 AM

Steve Miller

What would happen if Alaska eliminated their state universities all together?

12 July 2019, 09:55 AM

CHAS

quote:
Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
quote:
Originally posted by CHAS:
The flow of oil money stopped.
Residents got checks, not state taxes.
BP made huge staff cuts including my near to retirement brother-in-law and his daughter in late 2016.
Alaska is beyond broke is what my brother-in-law told me in January 2017.

The Permanent Fund still has a boatload of money. $65 billion in 2018. The state's total budget is a bit more than $8 billion per year, with a deficit of about $1.6 billion. So the Permanent Fund could cover roughly 40 years of deficits, just on current asset levels.

Wow
My brother-in-law neglected to mention that. He is a wingnut.

12 July 2019, 10:06 AM

CHAS

Carpetbaggers have taken over education.

12 July 2019, 10:16 AM

pianojuggler

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:
What would happen if Alaska eliminated their state universities all together?

Maybe they could partner with another state, like Washington, to offer in-state tuition to their residents at another state's universities.

But, last I heard, Washington's universities are near capacity.

And that's a hell of a long way to travel to go to college -- forget coming home for spring break or Thanksgiving.

So.... I suspect thousands of kids will get shut out of access to higher education. That's not good.

On the other hand, Amazon is concerned about the sources of high-tech talent entering the workforce. Maybe they and other companies could set up mass scholarship programs. Unfortunately, that would then drain Alaska of talent.

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12 July 2019, 11:32 AM

QuirtEvans

quote:
Originally posted by CHAS:
quote:
Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
quote:
Originally posted by CHAS:
The flow of oil money stopped.
Residents got checks, not state taxes.
BP made huge staff cuts including my near to retirement brother-in-law and his daughter in late 2016.
Alaska is beyond broke is what my brother-in-law told me in January 2017.

The Permanent Fund still has a boatload of money. $65 billion in 2018. The state's total budget is a bit more than $8 billion per year, with a deficit of about $1.6 billion. So the Permanent Fund could cover roughly 40 years of deficits, just on current asset levels.

Wow
My brother-in-law neglected to mention that. He is a wingnut.

The firm I used to work for invested money for the Permanent Fund. It was one of our biggest clients. I didn't know the current figures, but I had reason to know that the Permanent Fund is rolling in dough.