University merger talks



To determine if a school is in financial issues (or should be merged) what are "they" looking at?

Enrollment? Amount needed from State to function? Graduation rates? Alumni Contribution? Out of state students vs. Instate students?

I know enrollment was mentioned and that Valley and Delta State were the only State universities to see a drop this year (I think that's what it said).
 
RB, I posted this conversation three weeks ago..


Also, please believe that you will see public school districts merged before universities. However, I do expect certain schools to lose programs. If your program is only graduating 8 a people a year, you can expect to see the chopping block.
 
Everytime there are budget shortfalls in the state, this discussion comes up. It's a shame that it comes to this, but if there are any required cuts, it should come from the replicated programs between the state's Big 3. For example, Ole Miss's School of Engineering, although accredited, is a joke compared to most I've seen...
 
Braveman12 said:
Everytime there are budget shortfalls in the state, this discussion comes up. It's a shame that it comes to this, but if there are any required cuts, it should come from the replicated programs between the state's Big 3. For example, Ole Miss's School of Engineering, although accredited, is a joke compared to most I've seen...
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Ole Miss is the flagship school so it should have all programs; however, I think a great solution to our problem would be for Ole Miss to become private. That would save enough money to sustain the rest.

Is there some sort of index that shows how many state supported universites should exist per population? Where does MS stand in in that regard.

I think university merger will be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the line. School district merger will likely be first.
 
ROYAL BLUE said:
Anybody from Valley got the scoop on how the community feel about merging with Delta State?
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Exactly HOW would a merger work? :confused: Would they close a campus entirely or would it be something like Delta Valley State University-Itta Bena and Delta Valley State University-Cleveland.

How exactly would this save money?

I think that the state opened up all of these universities so now they have to support em. Something tells me that if not for Jim Crow, Valley never would have opened in the first place.
 
Tigerpride said:
Exactly HOW would a merger work? :confused: Would they close a campus entirely or would it be something like Delta Valley State University-Itta Bena and Delta Valley State University-Cleveland.

How exactly would this save money?

I think that the state opened up all of these universities so now they have to support em. Something tells me that if not for Jim Crow, Valley never would have opened in the first place.
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When all the Texas Southern University to merge with University of Houston talks used to come up, a regent mentioned that the eldest of the two institutions would keep the name.
 
you got to grow enrollment to offset anything....when your enrollment hovers around 2 to 3K for 50 years all your asking for is a merger or closure unless you have one hell of an endowment of alumni support to offset expenses.
 
Tigerpride said:
Something tells me that if not for Jim Crow, Valley never would have opened in the first place.
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No....if it wasn't for him, Valley or Delta State for that matter would've been in Greenville rather than Itta Bena & Cleveland. But I agree with the earlier post about making the flagship university (Ole Miss) private.
 
jsupop33 said:
RB, I posted this conversation three weeks ago..


Also, please believe that you will see public school districts merged before universities. However, I do expect certain schools to lose programs. If your program is only graduating 8 a people a year, you can expect to see the chopping block.
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This is a prime example of why folks shouldn't depend on the government. Social Security=broke, Postal Service=broke, Medicare=broke, Education=broke, I just don't see Valley making it in poorest State in the Union.
 
Tigerpride said:
Ole Miss is the flagship school so it should have all programs; however, I think a great solution to our problem would be for Ole Miss to become private. That would save enough money to sustain the rest.
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I don't know TP. IMO, it's not fair for the State to ask Ole Miss to go private when they're the flagship of the State. I do think it's fair that Ole Mis and JSU collaborate more, also, more funds should be allocated from Ole Miss to JSU since it's the only urban University in the State.
 
Tigerpride said:
Exactly HOW would a merger work? :confused: Would they close a campus entirely or would it be something like Delta Valley State University-Itta Bena and Delta Valley State University-Cleveland.

How exactly would this save money?

I think that the state opened up all of these universities so now they have to support em. Something tells me that if not for Jim Crow, Valley never would have opened in the first place.
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IMO, I don't think they want a merger at all. I think they want to shut Valley and Alcorn down completely.:shame:
 
ROYAL BLUE said:
IMO, I don't think they want a merger at all. I think they want to shut Valley and Alcorn down completely.:shame:
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Im sure THEY do. To me, that is the only way to save money. Otherwise, even if you merge Valley and DSU, you still paying for maintenance, professors, etc... at two universities. The only thing you will save is MAYBE on some administrative salaries. I just don't see the cost savings of merger. I only see cost savings in closings.

Not that I am advocating university closures... :lecture:
 
Tigerpride said:
Im sure THEY do. To me, that is the only way to save money. Otherwise, even if you merge Valley and DSU, you still paying for maintenance, professors, etc... at two universities. The only thing you will save is MAYBE on some administrative salaries. I just don't see the cost savings of merger. I only see cost savings in closings.

Not that I am advocating university closures... :lecture:
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Man please. We have 82 counties with a 152 public school districts in the state. We need to get some countywide school districts going. Let the most populous city keep theirs independant but everyone else should merge. that leaves about 95 school districts.

That is atleast $5 million in savings.
 

jsupop33 said:
Man please. We have 82 counties with a 152 public school districts in the state. We need to get some countywide school districts going. Let the most populous city keep theirs independant but everyone else should merge. that leaves about 95 school districts.

That is atleast $5 million in savings.
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I meant on the university level. The school districts are destined to merge. Even in a small place like Jasper County, they have two school districts. :confused:
 
No need to merge Universities if we merge High Schools and scale back program duplication. There is no need to have a program at a school that only graduates 8 people a year if two other schools have the same program but graduated 400 a year (Excluding the math’s, sciences, and technologies). A lot of these liberal arts programs can be scaled back.
 
jsupop33 said:
No need to merge Universities if we merge High Schools and scale back program duplication. There is no need to have a program at a school that only graduates 8 people a year if two other schools have the same program but graduated 400 a year (Excluding the math’s, sciences, and technologies). A lot of these liberal arts programs can be scaled back.
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I agree that there are many more opportunities for consolidation at the secondary education level rather than higher ed. I hate to hear most Mississippians preach that the state has too many Universities, but that rhetoric has been a constant in newspapers and articles. :smh:

At least JSU seems safe.
 
Braveman12 said:
I agree that there are many more opportunities for consolidation at the secondary education level rather than higher ed. I hate to hear most Mississippians preach that the state has too many Universities, but that rhetoric has been a constant in newspapers and articles. :smh:

At least JSU seems safe.
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Alcorn too. The USDA has a lot invested in Alcorn.

Mississippi University for Women and Valley need to watch out. However, like I said address high schools first. I have a family friend who just announced his candidacy for Governor (Hudson Holiday) and this was the first question I asked him about.
 
jsupop33 said:
Alcorn too. The USDA has a lot invested in Alcorn.

Mississippi University for Women and Valley need to watch out. However, like I said address high schools first. I have a family friend who just announced his candidacy for Governor (Hudson Holiday) and this was the first question I asked him about.
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You're correct. We should address middle schools and high schools first. The city of Jackson has 8 high schools for no reason at all. I always stated that Jackson should have only "5" high schools....North, South, East, West, and one in the Central metroplitan area. These schools should be huge state of the art schools with growth accounted....
 
ROYAL BLUE said:
You're correct. We should address middle schools and high schools first. The city of Jackson has 8 high schools for no reason at all. I always stated that Jackson should have only "5" high schools....North, South, East, West, and one in the Central metroplitan area. These schools should be huge state of the art schools with growth accounted....
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We don't have to go that far RB,

We have 152 School districts. My county back home has 50,000 people and three separate school districts. There is no justification..
 
jsupop33 said:
We don't have to go that far RB,

We have 152 School districts. My county back home has 50,000 people and three separate school districts. There is no justification..
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White folks do it all the time and we "ALWAYS" settle for less, especially when it comes to our kids. Our schools should have the very best to offer.
 
ROYAL BLUE said:
Private discussions of potential university mergers continue among lawmakers as the 2010 legislative session approaches, but some leaders are hoping to quash any actual consideration of a proposal.

Higher-education analysts have predicted the economic crisis would cause the closing or merger of a number of U.S. public and private colleges. http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20091104/NEWS/311040005/University+merger+talks+
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I am wondering how much money does each school have access to because you would think that each university would have considerable amount of revenue on reserve (from their annual savings) that would get them to at least 10 years (so it seems). What this says to me is that each school barely have enough money to make it and relies heavily on the yearly or annual funding that they receive from state and federal funds. Do you understand what I'm saying? Each university should be well drenched in wealth from all of the financial investment and all the savings that they have acquired through other financial venues and the question i have to ask is why would they be unstable or so unstable and can function over a coarse of... let's say 15 years? What's the deal with these universities :noidea:?
 
Ole miss is not the flagship school. Mississippi State is. Mississippi State receives the most funs and has the bigger enrollment.
 
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