I won’t pretend to know everything there is about the University of Nebraska’s finances. There are a lot of highly intelligent people for whom this is their focus and I’m grateful for their dedication and insight.

My stint on the Business Affairs and Audit Committee has shed light on the complicated economics of higher education.

The committees have wrestled with a number of urgent issues, not the least of which is the issue of health insurance in the whole university system. The big question is how do we provide the best plans to meet the need?

Graduate and international students are required to have insurance.

It is critical to their ability to continue their studies that we offer the most reasonable plan we can. However the recent double digit increases in policy buy-ins and growing deductibles puts them between a rock and a hard place. This is simply not sustainable, not healthy, not working. We need to find a way to ensure the kind of access to education that brings diversity and talent to our community instead of driving students away through the many-faced specter of debt.

Capital expenses are another problem – how does the university use its borrowing/bond process? We have been using the same system for a number of years, but to evolve and adapt is to survive.

Finance staff have fortunately focused their efforts on some of these questions.

They developed a plan, for example, that would allow a better use of borrowed funds and how we present bonds. Instead of separate, smaller bonds, it was suggested we borrow more to take advantage of current interest rates. That may sound odd and the mechanism for buying bonds is too complex to explain here in a few short paragraphs, but suffice it to say that a new process would actually free up more capital and save significant resources.

Trust me, I understand why finances are not usually top of the list for cocktail party banter. It’s confronting, complicated, and honestly kind of stressful. But the more we talk it out, the more ideas we can generate, the better the future can look for everyone.

*Barbara’s thoughts as written by Kate based on weekly (fascinating) conversations.