ST. CLOUD — While many people are breathing a sigh of relief with St. Cloud State University welcoming Interim President Larry Dietz on July 1, the school’s financial recovery might not be as smooth as many hoped.
When the St. Cloud Times sat down with Dietz, he said it’s unlikely the university will return to its former glory, and achieving an enrollment of approximately 18,000 will prove to be a challenge.
“I don’t think we’re going to get back to where we were,” said Dietz, 76, who came out of retirement after being Illinois State University’s president from 2014 to 2021. “That’s a steep hill to go down and it would be a very steep hill to climb.”
Dietz joins the university after it dug itself into a $14.4 million 2024 budget deficit due to enrollment declining roughly 44% from approximately 18,000 students in 2010 to 10,000 in 2024. To rectify its financial woes, SCSU on June 11 suspended 42 degree programs and 50 minors, alongside cutting 54 full-time faculty (13%), 42 staff (8%) and four (13%) administrative positions.
The new president, who grew up in Southern Illinois, said challenges come with Minnesota’s changing demographics. Minnesota’s birth rate plummeted nearly 21% from 2007 to 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with 14.16 births per 1,000 people in 2007 to 11.2 in 2022.
Dietz said this poses a challenge for recruiting new students with the number of prospective applicants declining. He also said high school students in the Midwest are choosing to attend universities out-of-state at an increasing rate. Coupled with the Twin Cities being a hot spot for college recruiters, Dietz said recruitment woes lie ahead.
“You’ve got a lot of out-of-state institutions coming into the state to take our students as well, so you’ve got more competition,” Dietz said. “So the idea that any institution is going to grow anywhere in the Midwest is pretty unlikely. Competition for the (declining prospective student population) has also gotten a lot more intense.”
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Dietz to focus on stabilizing enrollment
Dietz said he’s going to focus on stabilizing enrollment and reducing costs throughout the university — not just by making program and faculty cuts.
The new president told the St. Cloud Times the university is planning to demolish several dorm and academic buildings that are no longer in use, considering the school’s roughly 44% student population decline.
A new campus map is being released internally to the SCSU community on July 10. Associate Vice President for Strategic Communications told the St. Cloud Times information regarding the university’s new campus will be released “shortly” after approval from key stakeholders.
“The buildings are closed up so nobody’s in there, but it still costs the institution some money to make sure that the windows don’t blow out and (the) roof doesn’t fall in, alongside other safety risks,” Dietz said. “That’s money that we’re going to save because we don’t have the need to oversee those buildings anymore.”
Dietz also said campus modifications will hopefully beautify the university in the process.
“We need to get these old buildings that have just outlived their usefulness and functionality out of here because as we’re bringing new students onto the campus, walking by (these areas) doesn’t make a particularly good impression,” Dietz said.
The incoming president told the St. Cloud Times he plans to attract new students to SCSU by focusing on its remaining programs while also looking to expand. He said cuts were made to programs consisting of only 8% of the university’s total population.
Dietz said exploring new programs in today’s changing workforce could help attract students who would otherwise consider a different institution. With the same mindset, SCSU recently expanded its cannabis education offerings despite its slew of cuts – many impacting the liberal arts.
ISU’s financial struggles
While Dietz said he enjoyed the flexibility and availability to travel while retired, he missed being part of a university community. He is coming to SCSU after being Illinois State University’s president from 2014 to 2021, vice president for student affairs from 2011 to 2014, and professor from 2011 to 2021.
The 76-year-old also held multiple roles at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, such as vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management. Dietz held similar roles at schools the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Iowa State University between 1972 and 2000.
Dietz holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and a master’s in college student personnel and a doctorate in higher education administration from Iowa State University.
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Among his key accomplishments at Illinois State University was weathering the state’s political climate, which resulted in the state budget failing to pass in 2015 and 2016. Dietz said this impacted the amount of state assistance the public university received, and the institution was left to fend for itself financially during those two years. He said he kept the university in good standing by keeping enrollment numbers consistent and launching the Redbirds Rising fundraising campaign, which exceeded its goal by nearly $31 million.
“Many of the other institutions in the state didn’t have a strong enrollment, and they really struggled, and some of those have not recovered from that struggle,” Dietz said. “Illinois State did pretty well during that time frame.”
Dietz will only be at SCSU for two years, but his track record for rectifying financial woes in a short timeframe points to new beginnings. The president managed to reduce Illinois State University’s spending by $11 million within his first three years in office, according to an ISU press release, which coupled with a higher graduation and retention rate, put the university on a new path financially.
Corey Schmidt covers local government for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at cschmidt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: New SCSU president says financial recovery unlikely
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