I know on the conference board our finances have come up and it's been a difficult time explaining the differences between a small private school vs a large state funded institution. Combine some of the changes in both the political and academic worlds and it gets even harder.

I had heard (not through inside knowledge, just common kind) that they were nearing the end of most of the course corrections from the school. While not athletics related directly this article and therefore the public acknowledgement of issues and changes they have caused is a good sign that our administration may begin to take a deeper look at athletics.

The article overall is a good quick run down of our biggest long term issues and strategies to deal with them. It does leave out what I have been informed is a problematic issue in the loans we took for the building boom. However this isn't a structural problem but rather a short term threat to finacial stability, i.e. it's expensive but temporary with a small risk factor.

Looking at the programs that are limited I really see three that will probably cause some public outcry; graduate education, gender study, the energy and Indian law. Really the law is the only one I have a strong issue with since both will be relevant for the future both nationally and regionally. I am sad to see the others depart as a well rounded university is much more likely to succeed, but it appears that only a few students were taking advantage of these and in the highly competitive academic world that spells doom.

I am pleased with two things. One is a 2% raise for employees which indicates a slight loosening of the belt financially and therefore stability. The second is that they expect to see the student population to grow by 600 students over the next few years. Ultimately I think a 5-6k student body is optimum for maintaining our alumni and influence.

A number I found very interesting currently on average the school is losing 10k on each student. I would assume this number was much smaller or even a positive before the loss of international students. Reportedly these changes will correct a good deal of that even with the continued fall of international kids, ensuring we are not one of the 4,000 institutions of higher learning that are expected to close.

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/ed...9.amp.html

I just wanted to be another person posting in this subforum besides you and drummer.

(04-14-2019 09:16 PM)canewton Wrote:  I just wanted to be another person posting in this subforum besides you and drummer.

Lol thanks. It's a slow go. Many Tulsa posters go to the rivals board and the conference board. A few lurk around here. In football season we can get four or five in a conversation sometimes.

I'm surprised rabid hasn't shown up. Hope they are ok.

I'll try to make a push to get people over to post here again right before football season. Doesn't help we have been down the last few years, people are going into observation mode. Big year for football and basketball. Even our women's team is probably in a pivotal year and needs a winning season. Changes bring conversation so either we're good and we'll get some talk or we're bad and we get change.

Hi Cane, good to see you here.

Sorry, I have not made it over here recently.

Looks like the University has a PR problem on it's hands with the cuts. Mainly within the student body, and maybe some professors. They've been organizing protests on Facebook. I wouldn't say I agree with them, just reporting the news.