SPECIAL REPORT: Luther College Task Group 150 recommends $2.2 million in budget cuts

Luther College President Rick Torgerson

90 percent of Luther College's revenues come from enrollment.  So any change in enrollment has a strong effect on the campus' finances.

Over the past year a group of faculty members, staff members and a student have tried to figure out what future enrollment trends will mean for Luther College and its financial future. "Task Group 150" has made recommendations that will trim $2.2 million from Luther's operating budget over the next three years.  The Luther College Board of Regents has given its approval to the recommendations and told campus administrators to put them into effect.

Luther College President Rick Torgerson tells decorahnews.com that the moves are necessary because there will be fewer graduating high school seniors in the Upper Midwest through 2016.  Luther draws 38 percent of its students from Minnesota and 32 percent from Iowa, as well as a significant number from Wisconsin and Illinois.  That means a decline in the number of graduating high school seniors in those states will be felt on campus.  Moreover, the types of graduating high school students are changing, with an increase in the number of students deciding to skip college and an increase in the number of students enrolling in community colleges instead of four year colleges.

Luther College has a yearly operational budget of $110million, so the budget cuts represent less than a one percent cut over three years.  Still, Torgerson thinks the reductions are prudent.  "This process has made the campus much more aware (of the financial situation)," he says,calling TG150 "a very good exercise."

Luther College has 60 majors and programs.  But Torgerson says it is not a good use of the college's resources to have a major with only one graduate.  So the college as already cancelled its RB to BA nursing degree and has moved its MIS major into the Business and Economics Department.  Torgerson says the college will engage in a continuous process to review majors, to make sure Luther is spending its resources wisely.

TOMORROW: What form could education take in the future at Luther College?