Higher learning leaders in Mississippi could soon assess performance when it comes to funding public universities.
The Board of Trusteed of State Institutions of Higher Learning unanimously accepted Thursday a proposal basing future funding on what each university needs to keep its doors open and provide quality education to students, along with a measure that ties state dollars to performance.
Recommended performance metrics, per IHL officials, include degree completion, student progression, and workforce outcomes. These metrics would be calibrated differently for research and comprehensive institutions.
“The acceptance of this framework will help us as we move forward in making sure our universities are providing students with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in the Mississippi marketplace,” IHL Board of Trustees President Dr. Steven Cunningham said. “We have put a great deal of time and effort into getting to this point, bringing us closer to where we need to be with regard to a strong funding model for our universities.”
The funding model was developed by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and accepted by the IHL after nine months of consulting with the firm, university leaders, and state lawmakers.
Mississippi has eight public universities. At the state level, each receives equal funding percentage-wise through a base-plus model adopted in its current form in 2016. This funding model does not account for student growth, loss of pupils, or any academic successes or failures.
“We are institutionalizing mediocrity in our institutions of higher learning,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said of the current funding model. “I guess it’s the old political thing, ‘Let’s try to make everybody happy.’ Well, it made me unhappy.”
While some state lawmakers have been ardent supporters of a performance-based funding formula, with Republican Sen. Nicole Boyd leading the charge, others have expressed concern that adopting the model could have unintended consequences for Mississippi’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which they argue have been underfunded for years.
The new funding model is not yet in effect. It requires final approval by the IHL Board of Trustees before fully being adopted. A date for a final vote on the matter has not been announced.
