How much MnSCU reserve money would be freed up?

I asked the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system officials just how much reserve money the Dayton deal should free up for them.

The answer I recently received:

The estimated FY2012 reserves that MnSCU holds in the state’s coffers — projected as of this month — amount to about $94.4 million.

(I’m curious to see how much total money was on the line — including how much tuition and other revenue would have been lost in a shutdown — so we’ll see whether MnSCU has any estimates.)

Update: MnSCU spokeswoman Melinda Voss said the system doesn’t have any such projections.

About the blogger

Alex Friedrich

afriedrich@mpr.org

Alex Friedrich reports on higher education issues for MPR News. Among the stories he has covered: the fall of the Berlin Wall, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 2003 Moscow suicide bombing and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s in European political economy from the London School of Economics.

NT

Given the reduction in state support over the last 10 years (state money is now, what, 25% of the overall MNSCU budget?), MNSCU is approaching a level of self-sufficiency (to the detriment of its students) that makes classes close to revenue neutral. Eg, we offer classes so that we can pay for offering classes. At my institution, a summer class is only offered if it will pay for itself (unlike the regular academic year, when large enrollment classes subsidize junior and senior level offerings)

The big deal in this announcement is that IF the fall semester is delayed (and I’m still skeptical!), there will be a significant enrollment dip that will persist for 5 years. Its like an implicit budget cut for 2 bienniums…
NT

This is a fairly easy estimate to make (but I make no claims about accuracy!): For example, at Winona State University there are about 75 courses that start after 7/1. Each course has an average of about 25 students and is an average of 3 credits. Tuition is approx $200/credit. This is gross revenue of about $1.1M.
The 75 faculty teaching will probably earn about 1.5 times the adjunct rate ($1200/credit), so the instructional cost is going to be at least $400K. There are 7 Universities in MNSCU, and Winona is in the middle of the pack in terms of size. Net income in the 3-7M range (from the state universities) then sounds reasonable. I’d guess that the Community Colleges and technical colleges would produce similar numbers.