Northwest faces cuts due to budget constraints

The Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing at Northwest Missouri State University will end operations at the conclusion of the 2017-18 academic year, university officials announced March 10.

This decision and other cost-cutting maneuvers can be attributed to the continued loss of state funding over the years. This year, the university’s state allocation has been withheld by $2.3 million and the next fiscal year’s picture doesn’t look any brighter.

University leaders said the decision to close the academy, one of three major actions taken, is based on several factors.

“This decision was not easily made,” Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski said. “The closure of the Missouri Academy is not due to any single reason and especially not due to the quality of the faculty, staff and students associated with it. Rather, the closure is the result of a number of factors and interaction of factors that make the Missouri Academy no longer financially viable for a regional, comprehensive teaching institution such as Northwest.”

The university’s leadership team’s decisions were based on a long-term approach to budget discussions.

The second action taken to cut expenses happened in January when the Aramark facility services contract was redrawn so Northwest will directly oversee the operations. This is expected to save $150,000. Those in leadership positions with Aramark were offered jobs with Northwest; most accepted.

The third action has been to offer a voluntary retirement incentive to 120 university employees. This plan was shared with the appropriate personnel on March 8.

The voluntary retirement incentive program gave employees two options: to continue the employee’s current benefit package for up to three years or until they turn 65 or pay a lump sump equivalent to three month’s salary.

Phase II of the budget discussions will begin with the board of regents setting tuition and fees for the coming year at the March 16 meeting.

The Missouri Academy has been yielding a net loss for Northwest. With domestic enrollment for the academy continuing to decline, Northwest can no longer absorb the loss. Northwest has been unable to garner appropriate state or other support for the program and cannot appropriately invest in academy facilities or operations. With the closing, the university looks to retrieve $450,000 in the 2017-18 budget and nearly an additional $450,000 after the academy closes in May 2018.

The academy saw its enrollment peak at 178 students during the 2008-09 school year. In total, it has enrolled 1,042 students. Of those students, 801 completed the two-year program successfully – a graduation rate of 77 percent.

The Missouri Academy’s current enrollment is 106 students who come from Missouri as well as South Korea, China and Panama. Forty-eight students are in their second year of the program and are expected to graduate this spring. The academy will stay open until its current students graduate in spring, 2018, but is no longer accepting students for enrollment.

In regard to academy staffing, 12 positions are allocated to the program. Three are already vacant and three more are being eliminated.

“Northwest Missouri State University and the Missouri Academy are committed to ensuring that the Class of 2017 and the Class of 2018 successfully complete their studies with minimum disruption,” Dr. Cleo Samudzi, the dean of the Missouri Academy, said.

Despite the academy’s closing, university leaders said Northwest will continue to enhance its STEM programming. More students enroll in biology than any other discipline at Northwest and the School of Agricultural Sciences graduates the largest number of students. The School of Computer Science and Information Systems is the largest producer of graduate degrees and it added a graduate degree in information systems last fall. Northwest plans to remain active with a P-6 STEM initiative called “Project Lead the Way” offered at the Horace Mann Laboratory School.

Northwest is moving its ag classes to the Dean L. Hubbard Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The university is also securing funding for upgrades at the RT Wright Farm and for an agricultural learning center that will assist with developing plant scientists, food scientists and precision agriculture specialists.