Governor should build on 2004 higher education task force work

Higher education in New Mexico has been under extreme stress due to the combined effects of the declining enrollments (declining population), the budget constraints and the “political environment” in Santa Fe.

The end of the recession, the boom in oil production and the 2018 election removed several of the major stressors; New Mexico still has too many institutions of higher learning for its projected population growth. We have three PhD granting universities; four four-year universities; eight two-year independent community colleges; and 10 two-year branch community colleges.

A total of 25 institutions with three different governance methods.

A number of these institutions have been, are or will be placed on probation by the Higher Learning Commission. Several are currently under active investigation by the New Mexico Attorney General.

It is an enterprise in desperate need of attention.

However, each of the 25 institutions has the strong support of their local community, making change slow and difficult.

It is interesting to review the planning horizon from the 2004 Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education:

“We need to prepare now for the explosive increases in demand for higher education, which will occur over the next twenty years. From 2000 to 2025 the population of New Mexico is projected to grow by 40 percent — from 1,861,000 to 2,613,000 (U.S. Census Bureau). The projected growth in New Mexico’s college-aged population over this period — 33.5 percent — will be the fourth highest in the United States.”

Well, that was really wrong. New Mexico is now projected to lose one congressional seat, but more importantly we have an excess higher education capacity (classrooms, offices, dorm rooms, labs, etc.) of about 20 percent. New Mexico may be on a path to some sort of higher education consolidation, but we certainly have no consensus.

The two consolidation proposals (Scenario One and Scenario Two), both of which would have required submission by HED late in the Martinez administration, were simply DOA.

It is time for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to build on the efforts of the 2004 Task Force and establish her own Task Force on Higher Education to address issues like consolidation, governance, program duplication, accreditation, etc.

The initial step will be to conduct a statewide inventory of all New Mexico higher education facilities, such as classrooms, offices, dorm rooms, labs.

The guiding principle of the 2004 report was that New Mexico should meet the higher education needs of its citizens by creating a true system of higher education — not just a collection of 25 institutions.

— Las Vegas Optic