Needle Stick! The Latex Gloves Come Off...

Apparently Some Duplications are OK
(Children's Hospitals),
But Not Others (Medical Schools)?

`When I use a word,'
Humpty Dumpty said,
in rather a scornful tone,
`it means just what I choose it to mean
-- neither more nor less.'

The potential new medical school, a joint effort between St. Thomas and Allina, has been the subject of earlier posts. See for example:

Earlier Thoughts of BigU Administration Concerning
Possibility of St. Thomas/Allina Medical School

The frustration level of BigU's administration at not being consulted on the matter seems to be surfacing.

(Mr. Bonzo thanks a friend for calling this post to his attention.)

From the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal:

U official questions UST medical school

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

June 29, 2007

by Lauren Wilbert

The University of St. Thomas and Allina Hospitals & Clinics' idea to jointly build a new medical school in the Twin Cities is generating some concern in the local health care community, particularly within the University of Minnesota's medical program.

St. Thomas and Allina's proposed school would produce primary-care physicians in family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics, areas where doctors are projected to be in increasingly short supply. The organizations this week hired Pittsburgh-based Tripp Umbach to oversee their summer-long feasibility study of the new school. Tripp Umbach is a consulting firm with a Minneapolis office that has led studies for several startup medical schools nationwide.

Some health care leaders, including Dr. Frank Cerra, who leads the University of Minnesota's Academic Health Center are skeptical that producing more graduates would solve the looming shortage.

Instead of building a new school, he said, the health care community should focus on solving issues of reimbursement for primary-care doctors and how to pull other medical practitioners, such as nurses and pharmacists, into the mix.

"Just increasing the capacity to train physicians isn't really an answer to the problem," Cerra said. "There is a work force issue, yes. But we need to wrestle with the cost of medical education and the debt incurred."

Cerra said he would rather see the U's hospital work with Allina's Abbott Northwestern Hospital, for example, to coordinate their primary care residencies. A new school might only duplicate programs that already exist. [Apparently this argument does not apply to children's hospitals.]

Mary Brainerd, CEO of Bloomington-based HealthPartners, agreed with Cerra that other options should be studied besides training more doctors.

She is skeptical that a primary care physician shortage is due to too few students entering that field. It could be that the aging population is simply creating a need for more doctors who can be a "quarterback for the care you get," Brainerd said.

"I'm not sure what that quarterback role will look like," she said. "Maybe it's more nurse practitioners working with specialists. With the shortages, we'll have to get creative."

But Tom Rochon, St. Thomas' executive vice president of academic affairs who is a co-leader of the feasibility study, disagreed. "It's very clear that our region needs more doctors, and it needs more doctors in family practice," he said.

The demand for more physicians will be one of the main issues addressed by the feasibility study. If it finds the school wouldn't help the community, it won't be built, he said.

The study also will look into the cost of opening a new school, recruiting faculty and students and space needs of a new school.

"One of the challenges we'll face is [determining], 'How do we make sure we're filling this gap we've identified and not just producing more researchers?' " Rochon said. The school, instead, would aim to put more practicing physicians in the Twin Cities and rural Minnesota.

"We don't think we're competing against or detracting from the [programs at] the University of Minnesota," he added. "Hospitals accept residents from multiple medical schools.

Rochon acknowledged that the partnership with Allina makes for a sensitive situation with the U of M, which sends medical students to Allina hospitals for training.

But the new school and partnership with St. Thomas would not mean fewer residency spots at Allina for U of M students, said Dr. Penny Wheeler, Allina's chief clinical officer.

For its latest clinical training program, university medical school graduates filled only 45 of Allina's 142 primary care residency positions. As talks of a new school go forward, Allina might be able to create additional spots, said Allina spokesman David Kanihan.

Wheeler is working to schedule meetings with various officials at the U of M to talk about how the new school would affect their long-standing relationship, and Allina CEO Dick Pettingill has met with Cerra at least twice so far, she said.

"[The proposed school] is meant to be complementary, not competitive," Wheeler said.

Still, some from the university feel left out of the planning process.

"We've offered to help Allina and St. Thomas in any way possible," Cerra said. "We have 150 years of experience with schools, and so far, they haven't asked for that information." [What is this about? See above. Looks like Dr. Cerra has met with Allina CEO "at least twice so far."]

St. Thomas and Allina's focus on primary care comes as some Minnesota schools are showing a drop in students going into that field. Figures from the U of M's annual residency match program, which places medical students in practice areas, show that internal medicine and family practice have the highest participation.

But those numbers have dropped while class sizes have stayed relatively flat. In 2005, 50 students entered an internal medicine residency and 40 went into family practice. By 2007, those numbers dropped to 39 students in internal medicine and 35 students in family practice.

As Mr. Spock would say: "Interesting."

Bonzo

Tuition Reciprocity and BigU
You can buy a better product but you can’t spend more money.

Mr. B. has noted before the idiocy of the reciprocity problem between BigU and Wisconsin. A barrage of propaganda is in the air about the agreement costing the U six or seven million dollars. This is apparently being done to whip up support from the Board of Regents to drop the current agreement with Wisconsin.

Maybe it is not such a good idea for BigU to get into an unnecessary spat with Wisconsin over this matter. Apparently more Minnesotans think that an education in Wisconsin is a good thing than vice versa, at least based on enrollment. It is a good deal for ColdState citizens to have an opportunity to go to school in Madison at a reasonable tuition rate, because Madison is generally regarded as a significantly better school than BigU for undergraduates. See “Oh Lord, It’s Hard to be Humble,When You Have Ambitious Aspirations."

As has been pointed out many time before, the state of Wisconsin is making up the delta to the State of Minnesota. This fact is noted again by the Rochester Post-Bulletin:

Editorial: Resolve inequity in tuition reciprocity
6/8/2007 12:08:35 PM

... under the rules of the reciprocity agreement between the University of Minnesota and University of Wisconsin systems, students can attend their neighboring state's university at their own in-state tuition rate. Since tuition has increased faster in Minnesota than in Wisconsin, students coming here from Wisconsin are paying at least $1,200 less to attend the 'U' than do students from Minnesota.

It's an unfair situation for Minnesota students, and a somewhat embarrassing predicament for the University of Minnesota. For whatever reason -- reduced state aid, a failure to keep a lid on expenditures -- Minnesota students are seeing tuition at the state's flagship university eat up an increasingly large portion of their education budget.

For whatever reason, the University of Wisconsin has been able to get along with relatively smaller tuition increases.

Now, University of Minnesota officials are adamant that they will either get the agreement changed or drop it entirely in 2008. So far, officials in Wisconsin have been reluctant to make any changes.

Locally, this is a significant issue because of the large number of Rochester and area students who attend college in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the 'U' is enlarging its Rochester program.

Last year, about 14,000 Minnesota students attended Wisconsin campuses while about 12,000 Wisconsin students attended 'U' campuses.

At the end of each year, Wisconsin compensates Minnesota for lost revenue -- to the tune of $20 million over the past three years. But that money goes to the state's general fund, rather than to the 'U.'

It would be a shame if a program that so many students in both states find attractive is allowed to expire. College students and their parents have been pummeled by tuition increases in the past year. The uncertain future of this reciprocity agreement only adds to their turmoil.

People who run universities are supposed to be smart. They should be able to find a way to equitably solve this problem for the benefit of all -- but especially for students.

There is an obvious solution here.
Why exactly isn't this being taken care of?

(Send the money directly to the institutions involved, or have the governor direct that the money paid to the State of Minnesota be equitably distributed? No... Screw the students and their parents, let them eat cake, er... bratwurst!)

Bonzo

Have it your way!
Or, in the end the students always seem to take the hit...

Mr B. has kicked around the topic of tuition reciprocity before, e.g., “Small Schools in ColdState and CheeseState Caught in Crossfire.”

The latest skirmish is reported in todays Star-Tribune. As usual the unintended consequences of this move seem not to be of concern to BigU administrators. They will, though, as we continue our march to greatness and demographics start to kick in.

U sets 2008 deadline in tuition battle

Minnesota says it will end the reciprocity pact unless Wisconsin agrees to changes.

By Mary Jane Smetanka, Star Tribune

Last update: June 04, 2007 – 11:35 PM

Tens of thousands of students in the two states use the agreement to attend college across state borders without paying nonresident rates. But U officials say the agreement is unfair.

Because of the way it is structured and because tuition increases in Minnesota have outstripped those in Wisconsin, Minnesotans now pay $1,200 to $2,700 more to attend U campuses than Wisconsin students do. The U's line in the sand is being drawn three years after officials first asked for change in the agreement. Sporadic talks have yielded no result.

Wisconsin officials, including the governor, have been reluctant to change the agreement because they say it helps keep tuition affordable.

In 2005-06, 23,700 Minnesotans and 19,500 residents of Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Iowa and Manitoba used reciprocity to attend college across state lines. In the school year that just ended, about 6,300 Wisconsin undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students attended U campuses.

At the end of each year, a complex formula is used to try to rebalance things financially between the two states. In December 2006, Wisconsin paid Minnesota $7.8 million. However, that money goes into the state's general fund, not to universities.

So, as has been pointed out before, the money is there. BigU doesn't seem to be able to pry it out of the hands of the state. Or at least that is BigU's position. Of course the state can say: "But we give you lots of money..." BigU's response: "Oh, then let's take it out on the students because there is nothing they can do about it." Reminds me of an old movie. Something about failure to communicate...

Ciao,

Mr. B.

Earlier Thoughts of BigU Administration Concerning
Possibility of St. Thomas/Allina Medical School

An earlier post of Dr. Frank Cerra's email to faculty has been made: "Blanket Email from Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, Kudos and Questions for Proposed Medical School."
Dr. Cerra's message was sent on May 25. Minutes of an earlier discussion have just appeared. It is cited here as background for the dialogue on this matter that is soon to occur.

From:

Minutes

Faculty Consultative Committee
Thursday, May 17, 2007

5. Discussion with Senior Vice President Cerra

Professor Chomsky welcomed Dr. Cerra to the meeting for his biannual discussion of issues related to the Academic Health Center. Professor Balas started the conversation by asking Dr. Cerra what he thought of the proposal for a medical school at St. Thomas.

Dr. Cerra noted that the proposal is that Allina and St. Thomas will jointly form a new medical school next to Abbot-Northwestern hospital. It is their view that they must address three major areas: prevention, chronic disease management, and end-of-life care (issues that all medical schools are focused on) and that there are not enough primary-care physicians, so they need to start a new medical school. The boards of the two organizations are doing a feasibility study.

They will need a lot of money, Dr. Cerra observed, and must learn what a medical school is and is not. The question of whether Minnesota needs more family-practice/primary-care physicians is a good one, he said. There are parts of Minnesota that are classified federally as facing a shortage of doctors and those areas need family-practice physicians. If, however, one looks at the ratio of doctors to people in the state generally, supposedly Minnesota has a sufficient number of doctors, so the issue is distribution and how far someone should have to drive to see a doctor. Moreover, the University's family-practice programs are not full (a phenomenon true across the country); if there is a shortage of family-practice doctors, why don't Allina and St. Thomas work with the University to fill those programs?

If the two organizations really want to focus on prevention, chronic disease management, and end-of-life care, one can question whether that is best accomplished with physicians. The expertise of nurse-clinicians and clinical pharmacists is more effective in both outcomes and costs. That is the path the schools of the Academic Health Center are looking into.

The operating cost of a medical school is about $1 million per student per year. Instructional costs alone are $200,000 per year per student, fully loaded. If the plan for the new school is to graduate 40 students per year, it would have 160 students, so would cost about $160 million per year. Primary-care/family-practice physicians leave medical school with a debt-to-income ratio of about 2:1: they have about $180,000 to 200,000 in debt and their average starting salary is $80,000 - $100,000. It can take 25-30 years to pay off the debt. That is one reason the slots in the family-practice programs are not full, Dr. Cerra concluded. Others include lifestyle, reimbursement for services, and geographic challenges.

So how will a new medical school be financed? If by endowment, and one assumes a 5% return on the endowment, there will need to be an endowment of $20 million per student. There would need to be lots of money, Dr. Cerra said, and if the donor community put that kind of money in a new medical school, "what is left for the rest of us?" Those are the problems for the community but Minnesota is not that big a place. With about 5 million people it has done amazing things, but it can water down its accomplishments.

Professor Gunnar said she thought there were programs that would support physicians who agree to go to outstate Minnesota. There is not much money in those programs, Dr. Cerra said. If they do open a medical school, will the University offer a plan to provide the training more cheaply? It already does at the Duluth campus, Professor Elliott pointed out, and it is done exceptionally well. A lot of Morris students go to the Duluth medical school, Professor Carpenter said; Dr. Cerra added that they would like to establish pipelines with other campuses as well.

If one considers the physicians in Minnesota, over 70% received their ability to be licensed from the University; in greater Minnesota, over 80% received their training at UMD. That sounds like a better deal for donors, Professor Gunnar said.

How much of this is about the need for family-practice physicians and how much is about St. Thomas wanting another professional school, Professor Martin asked? Dr. Cerra said he did not know, although he has not been successful in his attempts to contact St. Thomas. There is speculation concerning the production of providers in the future so Allina went to St. Thomas; they saw the University is linked to Fairview, and with federal funds for graduate medical education declining, they believe that tuition and health-system payments will fund medical schools. If that is the model, how can they not also do something for nursing, pharmacy, public health, and so on, Dr. Cerra asked? That is an argument for partnering with the University. Dr. Cerra said he did not understand how the nature and values of a full-service health-care system and a faith-based university would mesh. He learned in the University-Fairview discussions that if the values do not match the partnership cannot work.

There is no accreditation prohibition on the establishment of the new medical school, Dr. Cerra said, but he does not understand why the American Association of Medical Schools keeps saying there is a terrible shortage of physicians and medical schools must increase enrollment or the number of medical schools must be increased. That is not true in Minnesota or in most areas of the U.S. and what is driving the call is the increase in osteopathic schools. There are osteopathic and allopathic medical schools; Minnesota's is allopathic, as are the ones at almost all major research-intensive universities. Osteopathic schools are private and are accredited by the same bodies and processes as allopathic schools.

Dr. Cerra said he is not saying he would not support the new medical school but that he does have a lot of questions about it, since the question about the workforce in those areas of treatment has been raised. Why only solve the problems with physicians? If they can be addressed with other providers, it is not clear there is ANY physician shortage except perhaps in a few specialty areas.

Professor Balas thanked Dr. Cerra for the explanation and commented that it seemed to be an odd time to think about a new medical school when the University's budget does not look that good. This is another time when someone is saying the University is not delivering what the state needs, when it is. Dr. Cerra agreed and commented, by way of example, that the University probably doesn't talk enough about the 180 pharmacists who will graduate this year, most of whom will stay in Minnesota. They will also solve the Occupational Therapy/Laboratory Science problem, which no other place has done.

This is undoubtedly a complex problem and there seems to be a difference of opinion about how to solve it. Dr. Cerra is certainly right that starting a new medical school will be expensive, but perhaps not as expensive as he thinks. Coming up with money so that family practice physicians would not be under crushing debt load seems to be a rational thing to do in this situation. But of course the U has not done this to date and thus leave themselves open to questions on the matter. The strategy of running up the tuition rate in an attempt to garner more state support may have backfired. BigU's instate medical school tution is currently the highest for any public university in the country. Certainly the BigU medical school administrataion seems concerned that another med school may drain resources from an already financially precarious situation. This concern is justified.

It should be an interesting summer. Mr. B.

Open Your Mouth and Say Ah… Or Why Won’t OurGovernor TeePaw Do the Right Thing and Give BigU What It Wants?

Mr. B. has previously pointed out the disconnect between authorizing new bioscience buildings for the U (a blank check, so to speak) and an explanation of where the money is going to come from to fill the buildings with people and equipment. These issues have not been addressed in the latest piece by the Star-Tribune's excellent legislative reporter, Lori Sturdevant.

See:

"If You Build It, Grants Will Come? Or, Could Someone at BigU Please Be Honest and Responsible About Expansion of Biomedical Research?"

Perhaps we should worry more about a way to lower tuition for doctors who plan to do family practice in Minnesota so that they can afford to do this? Agitation on the part of BigU's med school administration indicates that this may be a pressing problem, particularly if St. Thomas/Allina get into the mix. BigU is well aware that there may be a limit to the amount of funding available from the state coffers for the education of future health care providers.

See:

"BigU's MedSchoolDean Comments on St. Thomas/Allina Feasibility Study for New Medical School"

and

"University of St. Thomas to Establish New Med School?

as well as

"Blanket Email from Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, Kudos and Questions for Proposed Medical School"


From the StarTribune:

A moment left unseized
The wait continues for a gubernatorial push for the U of M bioscience plan.

By Lori Sturdevant, Star Tribune

Published: June 03, 2007

Twenty years later, DFLer Rudy Perpich circled the globe, hunting for jobs in industries ranging from chopsticks manufacturing to supercomputing. Then came Republican Arne Carlson, who knocked himself out to keep Northwest Airlines afloat.

So as the clock wound down on the 2007 session, I figured that Gov. Tim Pawlenty would soon start talking up the University of Minnesota's request for fast-track bonding authority for four new bioscience research buildings. Or that legislators would start buzzing about calls from the governor's office, urging a kind look at the university's plan for hiring scores of new faculty.

The university's request was, after all, the only viable, affordable, remotely plausible plan in sight for keeping up with the competition, and snagging a share of the industry that's exploding in research hotspots around the country.

But the clock wound down. A public appeal from Pawlenty to the Legislature never came. If one was made privately, it escaped detection.

When asked May 1 about the university's bid for a separate bonding path for biosciences, Pawlenty's response wasn't negative. It just lacked oomph. "That's a good idea," he said. "Either this year or next year, it should go ahead."

The governor wasn't alone in playing it cool. The Senate was with the U on this request for the second year running. But it was a different story in the House. There, where turf jealousies, regional parochialism and raw partisanship are the order of any given day, several senior DFL members weren't interested in giving the university permission for more than one building at a time. Allowing the Legislature a chance to say no before a building's bonds were issued was proposed. No deal.

"Their view was, 'Come to us every two years and let us take care of you,' " said university lobbyist Donna Peterson.

There are two problems with that view. One: It isn't the depth of state commitment that Academic Health Center Dean Frank Cerra needs to turn top faculty heads. Cerra says that recruiting research superstars takes three to five years to consummate. He needs to be able to promise today that a brand-new building will be waiting in 2012 or 2014.

And two, it pins Minnesota's best hope for a desirable new industry on what has become an unreliable process.

University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks says he'll be back next session -- or, better still, in a special session -- to try again. Platou says he'll try to keep a major donor on the hook. Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher says she'll try to "bring greater awareness to legislators about the competitive pressures involved here."

They are a potent threesome, but they can only go so far.

"It's going to take the governor's leadership to make this happen, "Bruininks said. Providing leadership to develop new industries -- that's what governors do, isn't it?

Mr. B. believes that there are a number of logical disconnects in the above analysis.

Dustup at the ColdState Legislature Over Regent Appointments

There is an odd power struggle going on over at the the legislature over appointments to the Board of Regents at BigU. The situation is described in today's Daily:

Eleven candidates chosen by the Regent Candidate Advisory Council in January were interviewed by the committee in hopes of securing one of the open positions.

Among these candidates were the four chosen by Governor Pawlenty in the new route to appointing regents. Prior to this year, the RCAC's recommendations went straight to the Legislature.

But now, many members of both the House and Senate are uncomfortable with the Governor's new influence.

"I never supported the change," said Tom Rukavina, DFL Virginia, "Why give authority to the governor that's not explicit in the constitution?"

There are also signs that tuition is finally going to be a front-burner issue this year.

"Tuition is the number one issue," said former Sentate DFL Majority Leader Dean Johnson. "It must be both competitive and accessible."

"Being a regent is one of the highest honors a citizen has," said Peter Bell who is seeking re-appointment to the board.

Bell said his goals include, increasing the number of federal research grants, community outreach, improving graduate rates [sic] and managing tuition hikes.

Mr B. looks forward to continuing conversations, to use currently popular administrative crapspeak, at the legislature. But he does not look forward to another predicted huge snowfall in ColdState.

It's the Output Function, Stupid...

From today’s Star-Tribune:

Editorial: Pay attention to college grad rate
New report shows middling Minnesota performance.

Published: February 26, 2007

Four years after enrollment, fewer than one in four students at Minnesota's four-year state colleges and universities have a B.A. in hand. That's well behind the national average. (Minnesota's private colleges, by comparison, produce impressive graduation numbers.)

Those are among the sobering facts about Minnesota higher education tabulated and released last week by the state Office of Higher Education. Entitled "Minnesota Measures" and available at www.ohe.state.mn.us, it's intended to be the first of a regularly issued compendium of indicators of higher education performance.

Higher education's rising cost is clearly related to the enrollment trends. "Minnesota Measures" documents that even among families eligible for state financial aid, this decade has produced a sharp increase in the share of family income consumed by college costs.

Before BigU embarks on a march toward greatness, Mr. Bonzo suggests that two things need to be done. First, do a better job of educating students, this will be reflected by much improved graduation rates. Second, get tuition costs under better control. These two things are related.

Mr. Bonzo, perhaps stupidly, believes that these things might happen with appropriate input from the ColdState legislature.

B.

Wherein OurLeader Shows the First Hint of Feeling the Student's Pain

Mr Bonzo generally approves of Lori Sturdevant who is thoughtful and does her homework vis-a-vis ColdState politics. She seems a little too trusting of BigU's administration, but it is a very difficult situation to interpret and she has Mr. B.'s sympathy in trying to figure out who is on first. Mr. B. was pleasantly surprised that OurLeader is starting to realize that students should not be the ones paying for the transformation of BigU into GreatBigU.

Last update: February 11, 2007 – 12:22 AM

Columnist: The courage to do what needs to be done?

House DFLers are learning that without higher taxes, public services will stay pinched.

By Lori Sturdevant, Star Tribune

At 85 members strong (out of a possible 134), the new Minnesota House DFL majority is big. It remains to be seen whether it's brave.

"Fiscal prudence" (read no tax increase) has been the new majority's official watchword, so far. But plenty of nudges in a bolder direction have been coming at them in the three weeks since Gov. Tim Pawlenty released his skinny "no-new-taxes" budget proposal for 2008-09.

State Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, asked a good question. If the university needs more than the Republican governor proposes to allocate, "Where would you like us to get the money?"

[Ms. Hortman appears to be a sharp cookie and has previously appeared in the Periodic Table.]

Bruininks cleared his throat, carefully allowed that he was about to venture his own opinion rather than an officially sanctioned view, and said: "If it means, long term, that we have to put more and more of the cost of higher education on the backs of students, if it means long term that we've got to experience this kind of [financial] roller-coaster ride we've had for the past four years, you can raise my taxes."

There! He said it! And this is a very difficult thing for someone to say in the current political environment and in this state. Remember what happened to Walter Mondale when he proposed new taxes? Immediately such a statement conjures up all the old sound bites: "No new taxes!" "Tax and spend liberals !" etc., etc. ad nauseum.

It should also be noted that Mr. Pawlenty is jockeying for a vice-presidential [sic] slot on the Republican ticket and would make the perfect second banana. Young (relatively), attractive and a good family man complete with a "no new taxes" escutcheon that he hopes to keep unblemished.

You can't lose them all - Mr. B.

The Game of Chicken Continues at the State Capitol

University of Minnesota President Bruininks says tuitions likely to creep upward
Thursday, 08 February 2007

by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

Sticking to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s proposed University of Minnesota budget means student tuitions could creep up even higher than currently proposed, U of M President Robert Bruininks told lawmakers this week.

Indeed, it’s “near certain” tuitions would need to be hiked above the 4.5 percent annual increase — about $350 — currently proposed by the University, he explained.

“I’m not prepared to say today what that number would be,” said Bruininks, speaking after Wednesday’s (Feb. 7) hearing of the House Higher Education and Work Force Development Policy and Finance Committee.

Over the past four years tuitions have jumped more than 50 percent for the 65,000 students in the five-campus U of M system.

For the University to freeze tuitions, argues Bruininks, would translate into budget cuts, culling the student population — draconian steps. “It’s impossible,” he said.

Still, Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, higher education committee member, is backing legislation to freeze higher education tuitions.

“Hopefully none,” she says of tuition increases coming out of the legislative session.

Meanwhile, back at Stadium Village...

U of M plans east-campus expansion

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - 2:37 PM CST Thursday, February 8, 2007
by John Vomhof Jr.
Staff Writer

University of Minnesota officials on Thursday proposed plans for an $18.2 million campus expansion project around TCF Bank Stadium, the new Gophers football stadium slated to open in fall 2009.

That part of campus, referred to as the East Gateway District, would be comparable in size to the university's West Bank campus and eventually could house eight to 10 new academic buildings.

University officials, in a funding request presented to the Board of Regents on Thursday, said the East Gateway District "is no longer the edge of campus, but rather a rapidly developing node of campus activity." Planned developments in the area include TCF Bank Stadium, light-right transit and the proposed Biomedical Research Facilities Authority.

The $18.2 million project would be funded by debt, which would be paid off at $1.2 million per year for 25 years.

University officials hope to have the project completed by fall or winter 2009, when TCF Bank Stadium and the Biomedical Research Facilities Authority building also are scheduled for completion. Most of the work on the project would be done by contractors working on the stadium and biomedical projects.

Mr. Bonzo is puzzled over the disconnect between OurLeader's insistence on getting what he wants or tuition will go up and his comment on the impossibility of a tuition freeze. But of course some additional building projects can be piggybacked on the $250+ million dollar stadium project, that's not impossible. Sort of reminds Mr. B. of the old Perry Como song, or:

Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Alice in Wonderland.

OurLeader has actually had lots of practice believing impossible things, e.g. BigU will be one of the Top Three Public Research Universities [in the world] within ten years.

A cold Mr. Bonzo bids you adieu. He thanks a colleague for pointing out the article about plans for Stadium Village.

Indiana shows students the money

An approach to dealing with the state brain drain AND making college/university more affordable.

Indiana aims to keep students home for college, beyond

POSTED: 3:14 p.m. EST, February 6, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) -- Indiana wants its best students to stick around for college and afterward -- and Governor Mitch Daniels proposes paying them to do so.

Daniels wants to offer $20,000 scholarships over four years. But there's a catch -- recipients who leave the state less than three years after graduation will be required to repay the money.

At least 17 states offer general merit-based scholarships, according to the Education Commission of the States. But none have post-graduation strings like those Indiana proposes.

Daniels' plan would give bright Indiana students $5,000 each year for four years to attend private or public schools in state. That sounds good to James Totton, a junior at Purdue University, where tuition, fees and room and board top $13,000 a year.

Mr. Bonzo notes that this price is already a heckuva deal. From the BigU website: room, board, and tuition will set you back $16,234.

However do those Hoosiers do it?

Small Schools in ColdState and CheeseState Caught in Crossfire

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press - 4 February 2004

Tuition dispute not just about U
Smaller schools on both sides of border rely on reciprocity

“Reciprocity has tied this geographic region together. Most of us don't see the border, and it would be a real disservice to sort of untangle that," said Alan Tuchtenhagen, admissions director at UW-River Falls. There, the $6,000 a Minnesota undergrad pays annually would leap to nearly $13,000 if the Minnesotan were treated like any other out-of-state student.

The 40-year-old reciprocity deal basically allows Wisconsinites attending Minnesota public colleges to pay the cost of a comparable Wisconsin school. The same applies to Minnesotans studying in Wisconsin.

It chugged along mostly fine for decades. Then six years of steep in-state tuition hikes at the U, including four double-digit percentage increases, threw the deal out of whack. Insulated from those hikes, Wisconsin students now pay $1,200 a year less in tuition than Minnesotans on the U's Twin Cities campus, $1,700 less at Duluth and $2,700 less for the U Morris campus.

The states compensate each other for the costs of reciprocity. Wisconsin paid Minnesota $20 million the past three years. But that money goes to the state's general fund, not to the U directly.

Some lawmakers say the state should simply turn over to the schools the money Wisconsin pays to Minnesota. But U leaders argue that wouldn't fix the basic problem — a Wisconsin student paying less than a Minnesotan for a U education.

[Mr Bonzo doesn't really understand this argument. If ColdState legislature gave BigU the dough from CheeseState, what is the BigU's beef? That CheeseState is "subsidizing" their students? How is this a problem if CheeseState has decided that their student citizens should not have to personally pay BigU's tution, but kicks in the extra. BigU is not being short-changed as far as Mr. B. can see.]

The smaller schools and their students seem stuck in the middle of the sparring between the U, which wants Wisconsinites to pay more, and Wisconsin, which says its students shouldn't be punished for Minnesota jacking up tuition on Minnesotans.

Hopefully the relevant issues concerning this tuition reciprocity mess are surfacing and will be rationally discussed. Right now, at least, it appears that BigU is being a BigBully about this and the collateral damage is being shared by the little guys....

"While we would prefer to have this change made within the existing state-to-state agreement, the University has the legal authority to make this change on its own." (Update on Wisconsin Reciprocity - Blanket email to BigU faculty and staff, I-31-07).

Could this be a threat by OurBenevolentLeaders?

Writing to you from very ColdState where it is currently -14 F. SmallHouse has its original windows and as I write looks like something out of Dr. Zhivago.

I remain your humble, but frozen, servant,

Mr. Bonzo

ps. to prove that we are not wimps Mr. and Mrs. Bonzo went to a live broadcast of Prairie Home Companion last night in St. Paul, where we first froze on the walk to the Fitz and then listened to a lot of jokes. The music, as always, was outstanding.

A Modest Proposal

Letters to the Editor - StarTribune 4 Feb '07

RECIPROCITY BATTLE

Drop tuition, football

Regarding "U threatens to quit reciprocity deal" (Jan. 26): Has nobody in the press or at the University of Minnesota considered the simplest solution to the problem? Lower the resident tuition to match Wisconsin. The money would be available easily by dropping the football program as suggested by Jay Weiner (Jan. 14) and several readers. Many elite academic institutions manage to provide a first-class education to students without a football program.

GARY TOFTELY, PELICAN RAPIDS, MINN.

Dream along with me....

Mr. B.

The College/University Affordability Issue in ColdState

Pharyngula
reports on Pete Wyckoff's testimony at the ColdState legislature.
(Pete is a faculty member at the University of Minnesota Morris)

At the University of Minnesota, Morris, we provide a great undergraduate education. Classes are small, and every class is taught by a professor; we don't have teaching assistants. My primary job is to teach undergraduates, and I love it. I know my students by name. I know their stories. I give them heck if they slack off. If you listen to public radio, I'm sure you have heard our sponsored clip bragging that Morris is one of the top five public liberal arts schools in the nation. The bragging is warranted.

Over the past five years, tuition at the University of Minnesota rose 57%. This rise was not set by our campus, but was a system-wide decision.

Our students at U of M Morris accumulate debt at a greater pace than at the U of M Twin Cities, but graduate with lower average indebtedness because we tend to get them done in 4 years. 2006 graduates left Morris with an average of $22,000 in debts, and ¾ of the students had debt. That last number is higher than the other U of M campuses because our students come from lower income families. Another way to look at the same numbers: for our students who take on debt, the average debt accumulation is almost $30,000.

As much as I worry about the debt incurred by the students who attend Morris, I am more worried about the students who don't even show up. As I mentioned, we serve a lot of first generation college students, and for many in that group, the sticker price keeps them from even applying. We don't even get a chance to try to make it work for them.

I don't feel that Minnesota can afford to let the price of its University slip out of reach for talented students of modest means.

Mr. Bonzo hopes that the drip, drip, drip of arguments by people like Pete will eventually cause some fundamental changes in the public higher education system in ColdState.

Ciao.

Does ColdState Really Need Another U?

Problem: College/university tuition at public universities in ColdState is out of control.

Solution: Spend more money on yet another educational institution.

[This does not compute, Bonzo circuits overloaded, going down, down, down…]

As pointed out yesterday in the Winona Daily News

Now, we are left to trust the Legislature again and, even more scary, trust the University of Minnesota to do the right thing. We hope that the University of Minnesota isn’t just shedding big crocodile tears when it talks about the lack of funding from the Legislature and then, at the same time, creating redundancies in Rochester.

Our legislative delegation has done an admirable job of raising this issue and keeping it in the public light. We hope they keep the spotlight focused on the University of Minnesota, which should soon be telling us exactly what it plans on doing in Rochester. Still, questions about the legitimate need for a university in Rochester have never been answered satisfactorily, especially when one considers the community is already being served by four (count ‘em) higher education facilities.

When Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced his plan for Rochester two years ago, it was political pandering to an eroding Republican base in Rochester. Today, it’s simply bad policy in the midst of much hand-wringing about the rising cost of higher education.

Hopefully, the ColdState legislature as well as the ColdState taxpayers will start thinking about the disconnect between limited resources, leading to higher tuition, and the highly questionable use of ColdState resources for a redundant ColdStateU.

Ciao!

Mr. B.