A new funding model currently under development with the Board of Trustees for Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning may take into account new criteria, such as post-graduation outcomes.
IHL’s board has been working with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, a consulting firm out of Colorado, since October.
Shamira Muhammad
IHL new funding model under development, first since 2012
NCHEMS Vice President Sarah Pingel said the firm has had conversations with trustees, state legislators and institutional leaders. It will continue to meet with universities next month.
IHL’s current funding model has been in place since 2012, when it was decided that funding would be spread equally among institutions.
Now, Pingel said the firm is recommending a hybrid model using performance metrics.
“We wouldn't be able to respond, for example, to the desire to integrate costs if the model was only based on performance, and we certainly wouldn't be able to incentivize performance improvement if there was no performance component in the model,” she said.
Critics of the new model scheme have told local media they fear it will reinstill funding disparities. According to reporting from Mississippi Today, a session of concerned citizens and Black state lawmakers explored how a new funding model could impact the state’s three public historically black universities.
In 2002, Mississippi reached a $503 million dollar settlement to address funding disparities for HBCU’s.
In 2012, an analysis from the U.S. Department of Education found that 16 states had underfunded its land grant institutions, which included Alcorn University.
“I think it's early in the process right now,” said IHL spokesperson John Sewell. “NCHEMS is going through this, and the conversations they'll have with all of the universities will help shape this formula.”
A preliminary report of the model is expected during February’s IHL board meeting. A final report will be completed by June.