Don't know if this is thread drift, but the implication in the above is that OK should shut down these smaller colleges and force students into the bigger universities. No doubt there is some level of over-saturation in these smaller colleges, (Side bar. Just like our state parks. My goodness there are way too many little-bitty state parks...) But take Panhandle State as an example. If it doesn't exist, would those students travel to OU or OSU? I'd suggest the majority would not. OPSU fills a need out there for those rural students.
Now, maybe OK could consolidate some of the NW small colleges at NEO in Weatherford? (or similar) I'm sure studies have been done, but it would be interesting to know how far - based on percentages, what is practical financially, etc - students would be willing to travel to go to college. I grew up in a small town South of Lawton, and the majority of people who went to college from the smaller rural towns around there went to Cameron in Lawton, not OSU or OU. So while I personally did make the decision to travel (OSU), and agree that some rationalization may be in order, a wholesale elimination of the small local colleges would be doing a disservice to the large rural OK population.
That’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” if there ever was one. I personally believe we have a lot of education sprawl which could be better consolidated, but if you remove a university from Goodwell, Tishomingo, or Wilburton you eliminate one of the regional economic engines. Same with prison consolidation or consolidation of primary school districts. Personally, I suspect most students would travel further to college if that were their options, but you would also either have higher u/e rates in areas where these schools are located or people would move closer to population centers looking for work.
This seems to be our favored flavor of pork in the Oklahoma legislature when it comes to luring jobs to rural areas which have few other prospects for growth. What are the chances a major aerospace employer will set up in Goodwell or a regional distribution center will set up in Wilburton?
That’s the tough decisions of being a state with large rural areas which need to be served with jobs and education.
