Reallocation Battle Reignites Call for Enrollment Focus at SIU Carbondale

SIU Carbondale won't have to give up five million dollars in state funding to its sister campus next year, but many say the time is coming for a funding reallocation.
Advocates for the transfer say it addresses inequality in how state monies are distributed - something System President Randy Dunn says will be even more clear this fall.
 
"There is going to be - potentially - a sizeably larger entering class at Edwardsville that, again, was another piece of compelling evidence that I think warranted at least moving it forward for discussion."
 
SIU Edwardsville Chancellor Randall Pembrook expects overall enrollment on his campus to surpass Carbondale in the fall of 2018 - but SIU Carbondale Chancellor Carlo Montemagno says funding shouldn't be based solely on headcount.
 
"It costs more money to educate a biochemistry student than it costs to educate an accounting student. You just don't say 'We have five students here and five students here, the cost of education is the same.'"
 
Dunn says his office will move forward in hiring a consultant to help the system address how to split state funding between the campuses. He says that process should take less than a year - when the reallocation discussion will likely return to Trustees for consideration.