Education

More states turn to public-college mergers, but easy fixes may remain elusive

From The Chronicle of Higher Education: “With a single paragraph, the governor of New Hampshire announced his intention to combine the state’s 13 four- and two-year public colleges into one unified system. Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, included the proposal in the executive summary of his budget for the 2022-23 fiscal years … But the experiences of other states have shown that college mergers are complex and time consuming even in the simplest of circumstances, and the benefits they create are far from assured. The budget promised a ‘glide path to full integration by fiscal-year 2023,’ only two years away. It also proposes an accompanying 9-percent cut in state support over two years for the combined system, from $151 million in the 2020 fiscal year to $138 million in 2023.”
View the full article from The Chronicle of Higher Education. [Subscription required.]