MANKATO — During Minnesota State University’s annual convocation Monday morning, President Edward Inch said the school has a rare opportunity to reflect and look ahead.
Inch’s convocation speech, the annual kick-off event for the 2026-27 academic year, took place in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom with faculty, staff and students in attendance. Fall semester classes begin Aug. 24.
The main point he sought to make, he said, is simple: relationships matter.
“Every person here contributes to the student experience across classrooms and laboratories, offices and residence halls, studios and libraries and clinics and athletic facilities,” he said.
Inch’s remarks come after the school announced a plan involving spending reductions and workforce cuts to address a projected $22 million budget deficit.
Campus cuts: MSU plans workforce reductions, tuition hikes to confront a projected $22 million deficit despite record enrollment
According to information released by the university earlier this month, MSU is facing a structural budget gap driven by rising operating costs, limited growth in state funding and a state funding formula that provides the university with less funding per student than the average among Minnesota State’s seven universities.
Inch didn’t ignore the realities of higher education at present.
Inch said 40 years ago, Minnesota students paid about 40% of the cost of their education, with the state picking up the rest. Today, those figures are reversed: Students pay about 65% of their education costs, with the state picking up the remaining 35%.
The same trend appears in the state budget, he said. In 1994, higher education accounted for about 13% of the state’s budget; recent budgets have placed that share at just 5.9%.
“This long-term shift has real consequences,” Inch said. “It places tremendous pressure on the 33 colleges and universities in the Minnesota State system, which share a statewide responsibility to preserve access and opportunity for students across our state. That pressure is felt here in Mankato.
“The costs of technology, utilities, equipment, maintenance, compensation and essential services continue to rise, and inflation has intensified those increases,” he said. “We cannot address every rising cost by asking students and families to pay more. Access and affordability are central to our mission. Tuition increases large enough to close the entire gap would put a college education out of reach for many of the people we exist to serve.”
What’s more, eligible students are choosing to leave and pursue education elsewhere, Inch said. More than 30% of resident first-time undergraduates leave the state for college. Roughly twice as many Minnesota students go elsewhere as students from other states come here.
That matters, he said, because students take their talent, energy and purchasing power with them and, odds are, they are unlikely to return.
When financial circumstances result in people leaving the university, it isn’t a simple budget action. “It’s personal,” Inch said. “Having to let people go is difficult and painful.”
On Aug. 5, MSU officials announced a plan involving spending reductions and workforce cuts to address the projected deficit.
Across nine bargaining units, seven were identified as at risk of losing positions, and an estimated 60 jobs would be impacted by the changes, The Free Press reported.
“… the effects have a personal impact on our colleagues, friends, families, teams and the work we do,” Inch said during his Monday convocation. “We should never lose sight of the people affected by these decisions.”
He said he recognizes that there is a disconnect when the school gathers together to celebrate the university’s successes, and yet it is having to make difficult choices and cuts. “This is a moment for honesty,” he said.
“Even under pressure, this university is strong. Our people are talented,” he said. “Our community believes in us. Our students need us. Our state and region depend on us. We will face our financial circumstances responsibly, but we will not allow them to define the limits of our ambition or diminish our confidence in our mission and belief in Minnesota.”
Inch said Destination 2030 provides a framework for this moment. This initiative was launched in 2023 and is a plan he has in the past described as “a dynamic framework that is designated to help us adapt, innovate and lead with steady resolve.” It is divided into four commitments.
• First, MSU shall strive to be a lifelong provider of access to an equitable and affordable education.
• Second, it should position itself as a leader in transformational learning that generates inspired action.
• Third, the university should be a community of care built upon diversity, inclusion and belonging.
• And fourth, it should be a nimble and innovative steward of resources.
Another point of MSU pride is this fall’s Career and Internship Expo, which will bring more than 250 organizations from more than 20 states to campus.
The MSU campus does have three critical infrastructure priorities, he said. Blakeslee Stadium, which welcomes more than 47,000 visitors a year, Carkoski Commons, which is home to the student health clinic and food pantry and Armstrong Hall, the academic heart of campus.
The school is taking responsibility for replacing Blakeslee Stadium and Carkoski Commons, he said. Armstrong Hall, however, requires a partnership with the state.
Replacing Armstrong Hall is not simply a facilities request. “It is an investment in teaching, student success, workforce preparation and the future of southern Minnesota,” he said. “We are prepared to do our part. We ask the state to stand with us in completing this essential work.”
MSU Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Hood spoke last during Monday’s convocation and echoed Inch in lauding the university for its triumphs.
It is, he said, a university that is “already becoming what Destination 2030 calls us to be.”
The future of MSU, Hood said, will not be built through a single transformative project.
“It will be built through thousands of daily acts of service, mentorship, creativity, scholarship, innovation and care,” he said.
Inch closed the convocation by saying that while challenges do exist, they don’t diminish the university’s overall mission.
“They make it more urgent,” he said. “Our resources may be constrained, but our capacity to care, imagine, collaborate and lead remains extraordinary. Our community believes in us.”