BISMARCK - The state Board of Higher Education will not use money from so-called equity payments or funds set aside to recruit international students to help colleges and universities with skyrocketing heating bills.
Both ideas were discussed Thursday but not adopted, as board members discussed how to help the state's 11 public colleges and universities deal with a collective $5.5 million shortfall in their heating budgets.
The issue first arose during discussion of a recommendation on how to distribute $2 million approved by the Legislature for special payments to North Dakota State University, the UND, Bismarck State College and Lake Region State College in Devils Lake.
The "equity" money is intended to help schools that are underfunded when matched against comparable schools in other states. Many legislators are skeptical of how the university system measures equity, and lawmakers are conducting an interim study of the subject.
The Board of Higher Education's budget and finance committee has recommended that NDSU get $900,000, UND $300,000, and Bismarck State and Lake Region $400,000 each.
The board also discussed putting a $1.5 million international student recruiting program that it approved last month on hold and using the money for heating bills. Board members did not act on the idea.
Chancellor Robert Potts and board member Bruce Christianson said the recruiting program should provide a large future boost in colleges' tuition income.
Can somebody please explain to me why recruiting foreign students is such a priority? Because to me it still seems like the problem we're solving is "too many white people at North Dakota's universities." Which isn't much of a problem, as far as I'm concerned, and certainly not something that should cause the universities to forgo paying their heating bills.
Having foreign students come here to learn is all well and good, but the emphasis at these tax-funded universities should be on educating America's kids. Specifically, for these universities, North Dakota's kids.
That's sort of hard to do when the heat isn't on.