Trouble Brews with the UNC BOG

[ASUMountaineer]

I have always thought 17 campuses seemed awfully big for North Carolina, but that was completely an uninformed, outsider view. I am not qualified to make a determination on the number of necessary campuses.

I believe that it is in the public's interest to have each region of the state represented with public higher education institutions. We have that now, but do we have too many is the question. I'm not sure, but we also have to ask ourselves if the current system (from pre-K through college) is sustainable. Our education system in NC is a mess, and currently has no clear direction for how it can be fixed. With that said, I'm not convinced that higher education is the best place to start...this will be something to watch!

Georgia consolidated a few colleges, but their system is much larger, both in number of students and in number of schools but still have 11 campuses with less than 5k in students each:

The USG is the fifth largest university system in the United States by total student enrollment, with 318,027 students in 30 public institutions.In 2012, the 30 USG institutions had a $14.1 Billion Economic Impact on the state of Georgia. Georgia Tech in Atlanta and UGA had the largest impacts on their regional economies: $2.6 billion and 20,869 jobs at Georgia Tech and $2.2 billion and 22,196 jobs at UGA. Georgia State University in Atlanta had a $1.6 billion economic impact with 13,736 jobs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University ... of_Georgia

NC and Ga are similar in a lot of ways and both have just shy of 10mm in population, but their system is more than 1/3 larger than ours and they have the Hope Scholarship for instate students.

There very well would be efficiencies with the UNC combining a few campuses that have similar purpose, are located nearby and struggling to attract students.

The troubling part are the continued use of words suggesting a significant reduction in the size of the university by the BOG is troubling. What size do these folks think AppState should be? What colleges and programs will they decide to cut because they overlap with UNCC or WCU?

The biggest question is why does this group of successful businessmen and women believe that one of the most respected State University systems in the country is broken?

That's good info. Like I said, I don't know enough about this to form a solid opinion, which is why my post was more high level and inquisitive.

The questions at the end of your post (especially the last one) are what I was getting at. For years, Appalachian fought the push from the BOG to expand for myriad reasons. The BOG has always determined what sizes the schools should be, but I've never noticed a contraction (there very well may have been one). It will be interesting to see what happens here. And I would not be shocked to see Georgia's actions mentioned as a guideline.

I would be surprised if there is a not consolidation, at least, at this point. It seems that UNCP, ECSU, A&T, NCCU, and WSSU could be prime candidates for any consolidation. ECSU into ECU, A&T and WSSU into UNCG, and then what to do with UNCP? Those schools could see some tough times coming up. I don't know what the right course of action is, but I hate the uncertainty currently lingering for our students, professors, and staff.

[wataugan03]

I would be surprised if there is a not consolidation, at least, at this point. It seems that UNCP, ECSU, A&T, NCCU, and WSSU could be prime candidates for any consolidation. ECSU into ECU, A&T and WSSU into UNCG, and then what to do with UNCP? Those schools could see some tough times coming up. I don't know what the right course of action is, but I hate the uncertainty currently lingering for our students, professors, and staff.

I don't think there is any way A&T or Central get closed or merged into another school. They are too big, too old, too important to our culture and history, and too large of a presence in their respective cities. And they have both have too many alumni who won't let it happen. FSU and WSSU aren't going down easy either. Elizabeth City State and Pembroke might be another story.

Beyond that, I don't think it would be politically possible single out multiple HBCU's (and Pembroke) for mergers/shutdowns without also shutting down some predominately white schools. I guess UNCA and the School of the Arts are the most realistic candidates. Followed by Western Carolina.

In the end I doubt much will come of this.