NDSU to Cut Graduate Waivers?

From the Fargo Forum:

NDSU freezes hiring, citing lagging tuition collections

Lagging tuition collections at North Dakota State University have prompted a temporary hiring freeze.

By: Amy Dalrymple, INFORUM

Lagging tuition collections at North Dakota State University have prompted a temporary hiring freeze.

President Dick Hanson announced Wednesday that 75 percent of vacant positions will stay open at least until spring tuition is collected and officials can review the situation.

The gap between the budget projections and the tuition collected is about $1.8 million, officials said.

Hanson attributed that to tuition payments that remain outstanding and a greater number of tuition waivers.

Forty jobs are vacant – 12 faculty and 26 staff – and all but 10 will remain open for the immediate future.

Hanson, who took over Dec. 1 as interim president, said his priority will be to fill positions that are critical for students.

“I think the impact on the students will be zero,” he said.

Hanson announced the news Wednesday afternoon in an e-mail to campus.

Many people said they didn’t expect to hear such news in light of NDSU’s continued enrollment growth and the increase in state appropriations.

“This is quite a nasty surprise,” said Kalpana Katti, a distinguished professor of civil engineering, who said her department could use six more faculty to provide quality education.

Vance Olson, president of the staff senate, said he’s concerned about the ramifications of a hiring freeze.

“As our student base grows, we need a certain number to support them,” Olson said.

The size of classes at NDSU is a concern for students, said Amber Altstadt, student body president.

As NDSU’s enrollment has grown to a record 14,189 this fall, the university has leased space for classrooms and offices, such as the Bison Block on 12th Avenue North.

That resulted in some “hefty lease payments” that are having an effect on NDSU’s budget, Hanson said.

In addition, tuition waivers, which are awarded to graduate students, employees, foreign students and other students, have been increasing at NDSU.

For graduate students, the waivers typically cover 100 percent of tuition. For foreign students, it typically covers half of the nonresident tuition rate.

In 2008-09, NDSU awarded 3,066 waivers that totaled more than $13 million.

In a report for 2007-08 for the North Dakota University System, NDSU had

$11 million in waivers compared to the University of North Dakota’s $7 million.

Hanson said those waivers are important for research universities, but he wants to examine the policy for the future.

Hanson also said there is room for improvement in the amount of tuition NDSU collects.

In October, the most recent figure available, NDSU had more than

$2.5 million in tuition that had not been collected, representing nearly 7 percent of total tuition.

Spending at NDSU has been scrutinized this fall in light of cost overruns with a new president’s house.

But Hanson said the issues are unrelated.

“This particular situation has nothing to do with the house, it has nothing to do with Barry Hall, it has nothing to do with those other things,” he said.

Hanson said he expects some may blame former President Joseph Chapman, who resigned this fall amid questions over the president’s house.

But Hanson said he attributes the budget gap to the unexpected effects of NDSU’s growth.

“Growth-oriented institutions move very quickly,” Hanson said. “And as you move very quickly, sometimes your assumptions don’t work.”

Chancellor Bill Goetz said he learned of the budget situation when he met with NDSU officials in late October.

“I think he (Chapman) was paying attention to it, it’s just that it reached the point now where I think Dr. Hanson was being proactive in wanting to make those decisions in preparation for the new president,” Goetz said.