A budget crisis is a good time to seriously review the structure of higher education in Minnesota.

We have a system that often pits campuses against each other in terms of recruiting students and adding programs. We have campuses with enrollments of roughly 10,000 and those with 4,000 to 5,000.

If the state is really concerned about the quality of education, these question should be asked: Are 9,000 students on the campus of St. Cloud State University really served as well as 6,000 could be? Are 10,000 students flourishing in the environment at Minnesota State Mankato?

Can we learn something from Wisconsin or Colorado on how better to structure our state school system?

The state also needs to take a serious look at the University of Minnesota. Make a commitment to agriculture research where the actual agriculture is being produced.

And where is the meaty discussion on how the state can invest in programs that mean our higher education institutions, including those in rural Minnesota, are leaders in renewable energy research and development?

We won’t pretend that reducing tuition costs and bettering our higher education institutions may not require money, say an increase in taxes, but we need to spend some serious time in 2009 talking about serious efforts to do so.

These are some tough times economically, but a bit of financial discomfort in 2010 and 2011 will put us in a much more comfortable position in 2012 and beyond.

— Independent of Marshall, Feb. 12