Northland makes adjustments: "it’s clear that we need to make more changes in order to live within our means"

Based upon faculty page AND the above announcement: (Pink and yellow are listed as faculty for ‘14-15 / Blue not)

This isn’t meant to be snarky, but can they call themselves a university after such a drastic change? “Bible College” would seem more accurate a description give the programs they intend to emphasize, though I understand that wouldn’t address the concerns they were trying to address when they made the name change.

70+% cut in teaching staff! That is drastic and will be terribly hard to communicate credibility and stability.

I understand hard, sweeping business decisions need to be made, but this is almost like a poison pill on a purely surface observation.

1. What happens to my credits if my program is eliminated?
2. Will I still be able to graduate on time?
3. –—
4. –—
5. Should I come back?
6. What programs and degrees will Northland offer next year?
7. Will Northland help me transfer to another school?

When these kinds of questions are raised, from a parent’s perspective (and maybe too from a student’s)

• Will my kid lose credits ($$ flushed down drain / loss of time)
• Will my kid graduate on time (More $$ / another year?)
• Programs? Well if one went there for education or music … seems like an obvious problem
• What programs offered next year? Hey … next year is 4 months away. You would think would be solidified by now!
• Will Northland help me transfer? Observation: When this is asked … one thinks … begin looking now. Get those credits to transfer!
• Is there any other obvious choice in Wisconsin? MBBC say!

It is just a matter of time now. It is not if NIU will close, but when.

Pillsbury 2.0.

NIU has been criticized a lot in SI. I have done some of the criticizing. Having said that:

• It is a very conservative, Baptist school - I think we can all agree that is a good thing!
• They are committed to missions, and they teach the Gospel to their students - that, too, is a good thing!
• If they do close, it will be a major loss
• I hope they can continue, and I hope their pruning will have the desired effect so they can march forward

• Reminder that the genesis of Maranatha was the split between the President of Pillsbury and the Chairman of the Board of Pillsbury (well-documented somewhere (a Pratt article?) on Sharper Iron) - Update: here but some links to Pratt articles are dead. But see Pastor Jim McLeish comment (he was there!)
• So when MBBC’s rib was taken from Pillsbury’s side, Pillsbury became hobbled
• And then experimentation by Pillsbury leadership as to it’s position sounded uncertainty
• Then aged infrastructure (well documented in recent Owatonna local newspaper) hampered Pillsbury
• The decline of number of MBA churches (from more 100 churches to a much lesser # today) further hampered Pillsbury. Since MBA owned Pillsbury … MBA was the feeder system. Less churches = less students to channel to school.
• And then competition. Not just from MBBC (which frankly seems to do all things right! Think regional accreditation!) but also ironically from Northland
• Add to that poor business decisions with regard to debt

In my view Northland got off to a faulty start … a family sponsored Bible college. (contrast with Faith (Iowa) or MBBC). Coupled that with rapid growth and poor financial controls … spelled doom for them (they may recover!?)

Before we go any further on this thread, can I mention that every single one of those names is a real person with a real family and real financial needs? This isn’t abstract data, and I think we’d all be wise to remember that people are affected by this. Some of the people on Jim’s list are probably going to read this website, as a matter of fact. Some of the names highlighted in blue on Jim’s image were my professors or faculty I knew personally when I was there many years ago.

Whatever your position on NIU - and I still think that they are going in the right direction - any whoops of self-congratulation about seeing NIU’s ‘drift into error’ or ‘this is what happens when you compromise’ are seriously off-base and unwarranted at this time.

***

Greg, I think that this move had to be made. I don’t like it, but I think that they had to cut in order to balance the books for the future, although I am shocked as well at the size of the cuts. It really, probably, should have been done years ago - long before the NIU - Olson - Redeemed fiasco.

Of course we are speculating, but I agree with Jay. This probably needed to start years ago. Now, in order to catch up, the cuts are so drastic that they are closing whole programs. This will inevitably cause current students to transfer and potential future students to head in a different direction. This will further reduce operating funds which will likely only push the school farther into a downward spiral out if which it will be extremely difficult to escape

Patz’s comment: “If you come here for four years, you will be different. You will be discipled. You will be discipled by the president, administration, faculty, staff, TA’s, GA’s, upperclassmen, underclassmen, and board with a passion for a big and glorious God.”

Novel idea:

• Be in a good church for discipleship! <––––— it’s in the Bible! (and amazingly … you don’t have to pay tuition for this!)
• Be in a good college for a degree

It is not becoming.

[JC]

It is not becoming.

I am:

• Pro-local church
• And realistic about Bible colleges
• Observation: Half of our church’s pastoral staff has some sort of Northland connection: Our Sr Pastor, 2 Associate pastors, our former youth pastor. None have ever accused me of being anti-NIU.
• I can think of a lot of good things about NIU and I’ve mentioned them on S/I before. We have probably 30-40 NIU grads in our church. All good servants of the Lord. Also … while I thought that the way the changes at Northland unfolded last year were weird (I mean very weird!), I generally think the direction of the school is positive
• About Bible colleges (and to be honest I did not go to one - I went to the University of Cincinnati): In all my study of Scripture I’ve never found them. Not ordained. Nothing about how they should be structured or organized. My feeling about colleges is about 2 or 3 posts above. I’ve felt this way for a number of years. As a aside: my wife and I each individually support a Baptist Bible college with weekly contributions from our paychecks - matched by our company. So I am not anti-Bible college. I think that not having regional accreditation is a disservice to students. AND I do think that some of the Bible college majors are poor choices for students (camping, counseling, women’s ministries). Also I value college education and the need for young adults to be prepared for secular careers.

You wrote:

Novel idea:

Be in a good church for discipleship! <––––— it’s in the Bible! (and amazingly … you don’t have to pay tuition for this!)
Be in a good college for a degree

You horrible man! How dare you say something Biblical! You make too much sense here!

Shameless plug alert - that’s why MBU rules. It’s more than a Bible College. It’s a Christian university, and it offers quality, accredited education in fields you can, you know, actually use in the real world.

I know a young adult who:

• Went to Bible college
• Took out student loans
• Now works as an administrative assistant
• And has finally after 15 years paid off the student loans

I am anti-debt! Both my wife and I graduated debt free from college. 2 of our 3 kids graduated debt free from college (and both received very good degrees: 1 is now at MIT, the other is a Mechanical Engineer).

–- expanding upon this because often people think this is impossible –

• We saved $ 5000 for each of our kids for college. Not much admittedly!
• One kid wasted $ 5000 in his first semester:
  • Wanted more. I denied.
  • He joined the Marines and got a real practical education (including serving in Iraq)
  • After the Marines joined the MN national guard
  • Used GI bill money to get an associates degree in engineering (Normandale Community College) and then a bachelors in engineering (from the U of Minn). Now works for Seagate in hard drive failure analysis. Currently in Afghanistan (since July ‘13) until June ‘14. he is a combat engineer and a Staff Sgt in the Mn National guard. I was Facetiming him Saturday. I said that I wanted to give him $ 1000 when he got home … he said he didn’t need it!
• Another kid:
  • Started working at pizza place at age 14
  • At 16 became barista at a Caribou coffee shop
  • She saved and saved
  • She took 1 year of college as a Sr. in H.S. (Minn has a program called post-secondary where the state will pay for college for Jrs and Srs. She only did it her Sr year
  • She used her $ 5000 wisely
  • She worked as a barista all through college and graduated debt free. In fact she had so much left over that she took the summer off and traveled to Europe for 6 or 8 weeks.
  • She worked at 3M for 6 years and now is at M.I.T.

I’m the parent. I set the standards for my children. I would not surrender parenting to a school

In loco parentis

I don’t think the school should decide whether my kid watches “Glee” off campus for example. (And re Glee … never seen it … nor have my adult children (by their choice)