Higher ed director says leaders in ‘crisis management’

LITTLE ROCK — Higher education won’t go back to the way it was following the covid-19 pandemic, Arkansas Division of Higher Education Director Maria Markham told the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board on Friday.

Just how different things will be isn’t clear yet, Markham said. Higher education leaders are still in “crisis management” mode, she said. Whether students will return to campuses in the fall or exactly how they would return — if they’d be allowed to share a dorm room, for example — isn’t yet clear, she said.

The chancellors and presidents Markham has spoken with recently also expect a major shift in how courses are delivered.

Changes in course delivery present additional competition to institutions, board member Keven Anderson said.

If more courses are online, Anderson wonders if colleges should adjust their priorities and if state higher education leaders should take a different approach to evaluating whether the state’s schools are duplicating degree programs unnecessarily.

In-state competition is more pronounced for smaller, mid-size schools, he said.

“If competition is coming from everywhere, we have to figure out what we’re good at and focus on that,” he said. Things that aren’t going well, that have significant competition, can be emphasized less.

“That’s been on my mind lately.

“I think we all have that on our mind,” Markham said.

The state’s public higher education institutions will lose millions of dollars this fiscal year because of lost state revenue related to the covid-19 pandemic. Money earned through the state’s new productivity funding formula has been wiped out.

Markham told the Higher Education Coordinating Board the division is advising institutions to factor in losing millions more next year.

Across Arkansas, 77 schools, including all public colleges, will receive about $130 million from the U.S. Department of Education.

At least half of that will be aid to students. No more than the other half of that will go toward offsetting costs associated with covid-19. That includes the cost of equipment or other purchases related to transitioning to online course delivery. It also allows schools to reimburse themselves for cash reimbursements paid out to any students for unused room and board for this spring, Markham said.

Markham said she will send a survey to each of the state’s public institutions of higher learning asking for information on the impact, such as hits to endowments, reserves and student recruitment.

Answers will be compiled into a report to the board.