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Lawmakers in New Mexico worry that the state just has too many damn colleges. So many that they’re becoming a drain on the state budget. According to an article by James Monteleone in the Albuquerque Journal:
Lawmakers on Friday blasted the growth of community colleges and branch campuses in the state and threatened to shut some of them down to save money. “We’re going to have to be looking at closing some campuses,” said Legislative Finance Committee vice chairman Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming.
…Lawmakers focused their funding concerns on the 25-plus colleges in the state. Many of them have duplicate programs in the same communities, leading to higher overhead expenses. One example mentioned was social work courses that are taught in Albuquerque at a New Mexico State University center and at a New Mexico Highlands University campus located less than a half-mile apart near Indian School and San Mateo.
It’s rather hard to argue that New Mexico suffers from too much education. Only about 23 percent of New Mexico residents currently have a bachelor’s degree, less than the national average. At the same time, it is entirely possible to try to educate people the wrong way.
According to the article, more tax dollars per capita are paid to colleges in New Mexico than in any other state. About 15 percent ($853 million) of the state’s annual budget goes to higher education.
And the state’s public colleges still aren’t exactly cheap. The state’s flagship public university only ranks in the middle of the country in terms of price relative to median income. What’s going wrong here?
(Thanks to commentator Judy for making me aware of the New Mexico article.) [Image via]
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Brian Despain on October 25, 2010 6:57 PM:
Highlands is located in Las Vegas NM and is nearly 120 miles away from Albuquerque. Someone failed basic geography.
Texas Aggie on October 25, 2010 9:21 PM:
Something that should have been mentioned is that different colleges and universities have different standards for accepting students so that those who are studying a particular course in one institution may not have the opportunity to study at all in a different institution right next door.
Besides, there are courses that are integral in each and every institution. To claim that only one university should teach math, only one should teach biology, only one should teach history, only one should teach government, etc. is stupid beyond belief. If anything, that the lawmakers are taking that stance is evidence of a crying need for MORE higher education in NM.
John on October 25, 2010 10:30 PM:
@Brian Despain As the article states clearly, the two social work programs are offered at a "New Mexico Highlands University campus" and a "New Mexico State University center." A quick visit to each school's website revealed that, yes, both have satellite campuses in Albuquerque at which you can earn degrees in social work, located not just "less than a half-mile apart" but on same road in Albuquerque. Someone failed reading comprehension and fact checking.
Lamonte John on October 26, 2010 8:11 AM:
I grew up in the state of Idaho. With a population of barely 1 million, the state is geographically divided from north to south with a large wilderness area in the middle of the state. Up until the 1970's the state had two adequate-to-strong universities with the University of Idaho in the north (Moscow) and Idaho State University in the south (Pocatello). Then the legislature got this notion that the capital city of Boise needed a university and so Boise Junior College made the meteoric leap from Junior College to Boise State University within about five years (1969-1974) and along the way robbed U of I and ISU of precious funding for the academic programs they were supporting. Of course today, Boise State has a nationally ranked football program and so the pinheads who fund the University justify this academic larceny by claiming their football program will financially support the university. And so in 1974 Idaho went from having two competitive academic centers to having three mediocre campuses. Sometimes it's just better to keep the numbers small.