I'm not sure our esteemed board of regents and upper end employees understand the one big financial reality that's painfully obvious to most Alaskans. And that is it didn't really matter to Alaskans how much money the legislature threw at the university because it was painless. Nobody asked Alaskans if they were willing to fund the university at this level through taxes. It's a new day.

 I look at the idea of masters and doctorate programs for teachers as some sort of bad joke. The biggest single driver of people entering those programs has been the willingness of school districts to pay those with graduate degrees more - REGARDLESS of the fact that there was and still is absolutely no method of telling whether it improved their skills. It's a standing joke in our public schools. We desperately need teachers who can reach children - you don't get that in college. 

Way too many young adults are coming out of college with a head full of dumb and 25 years of debt to show for it.