MHEC News November 2024

I write this note after three rewarding days at our MHEC Annual Commission Meeting in Overland Park, Kansas. We are grateful to our Kansas Commissioners for helping us arrange a fantastic line-up of presenters, and we appreciate having this annual opportunity to learn from one another. Read on for a few highlights from the meeting.

• Other features in this edition of MHEC News includes:
• Interactive dashboard update on the student mental health treatment gap
• Updates on MHEC's work related to its strategic priorities
• Commissioner appointments
• MHEC team updates

On the heels of our Annual Commission Meeting, I am reminded how grateful I am to be part of an organization that is continually looking to develop and share new and effective ideas in higher education.

Susan G. Heegaard
MHEC President

_{Pictured clockwise l-r from top: Rob Trembath; Susan Heegaard and Barbara Ballard; Commissioners in conversation; MHEC commissioners and staff at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Training Center}

A Recap of MHEC's Annual Commission Meeting

Commissioners and MHEC staff came together in Overland Park, Kansas, for the Annual Commission Meeting November 18-20. This gathering reflects MHEC's commitment to bringing together leaders from midwestern states to advance innovation and effectiveness, develop collaborative solutions to regional higher education issues, and drive cost savings for our member institutions.

Presentations
We deeply appreciate the contributions of our presenters who shared their knowledge and insights.

• Joshua Jefferson, deputy secretary of business development at the Kansas Department of Commerce, showcased Kansas's economic and workforce development plans.
• Dr. Thomas Harnisch, vice president of government relations with the State Higher Education Executive Officers, provided a federal update.
• Laura Tomaka from the Council of State Governments offered a legislative recap and preview of the 2025 session.
• Dr. Cynthia Lane from the Kansas Board of Regents presented on the state's holistic effort to boost literacy through a focus on educator preparation.
• A panel discussion offered perspectives on postsecondary education for incarcerated individuals in Kansas and Michigan.

Recordings of these presentations plus additional presentations and materials will be shared on the MHEC website soon.

Field Trips
Commissioners and staff visited two impressive locations: the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Training Center at Johnson County Community College and the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas (KU), where Dr. Diana Carlin discussed her book, Remember the First Ladies: The Legacies of America's History-Making Women.

Awards
Morna Foy, former president of the Wisconsin Technical College System, and Dirk Huggett, assistant chief information officer for the North Dakota University System, received MHEC's "Outstanding Service Awards." Foy was nominated for her leadership to the region and for her many contributions, including her service on the Regional Midwestern-State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement Steering Committee. Huggett was nominated for his leadership in MHEC's Technologies Community.

Rob Trembath, MHEC's chief operating officer and general counsel, received the Phillip Sirotkin Award in recognition of his longtime leadership at MHEC and his passion for postsecondary education.

Outgoing & New Officers
In addition to conducting business related to programs and finances, MHEC recognized outgoing officers and elected new officers:
Barbara Ballard, outgoing chair of MHEC, was recognized for her tremendous leadership. She has served as a MHEC commissioner from Kansas since 2005 and is the longest-serving member of the Kansas legislature. She also is the senior associate director at the Robert J. Dole Institute.
Mike Duffey, Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, was elected chair of MHEC.
Illinois State Representative Katie Stuart was elected vice-chair.
Tim Mihalick from North Dakota's State Board of Higher Education, was elected treasurer.

 

_{Pictured clockwise l-r from top: stained glass window at Dole Institute; Barbara Ballard, Layla Merrifield, Eric Fulcomer, Candace Pantoga, Morna Foy, Julie Underwood, and Susan Heegaard; Barbara Ballard, Dirk Huggett, and Susan Heegaard; dinner at the Dole Institute}

Policy & Research

More College Students Seek Mental Health Support, but Gaps Remain, Especially for Male Students

The latest update to MHEC's Interactive Dashboard introduces a treatment gap measure in its new series of indicators that gauge the mental health of college students at selected institutions in the Midwest.

Research shows that effective treatment can help students manage mental health challenges, leading to better academic outcomes, such as graduation rates (1). However, many students who could benefit from treatment are not currently receiving it. In 2023, among students who were currently experiencing moderate to severe anxiety or depression at public four-year institutions, 57% reported that they were not receiving any treatment in the form of medication or therapy. While the treatment gap has decreased over the past several years, significant sex disparities persist.

Treatment gap indicators can help colleges and universities better understand service utilization trends on their campuses, assess inequalities in treatment access across demographic groups, and inform efforts to address barriers that may prevent students from seeking or receiving services, such as time constraints, financial barriers, stigma, or difficulty recognizing when help is needed.

This indicator uses data from the Health Minds Study survey to show the percentage of students (by sex) who met the criteria for moderate or severe depression or anxiety but did not report currently receiving any therapy or medication at the time of their institution's survey administration (2). In 2023, 7,346 public four-year students responded to the survey, representing nine public four-year institutions across six Midwest states: Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. This indicator was developed as part of a collaboration between MHEC and the Healthy Minds Network.

 
_{⁽¹⁾ Kessler, R. C., Foster, C. L., Saunders, W. B., & Stang, P. E. (1995). Social consequences of psychiatric disorders, I: Educational attainment. The American journal of psychiatry, 152(7), 1026–1032. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.152.7.1026
⁽²⁾ Respondents were instructed to report their sex at birth as either female, male, or intersex, though small sample sizes for intersex students did not allow for reliable estimates. This indicator does not account for the respondent’s gender identity (e.g., man, woman, non-binary, transgender).}
 
Explore the dashboard

Strategic Updates

Developing Collaborative Solutions to Regional Problems and Opportunities

MHEC Brings Stakeholders Together to Advance FAFSA Completions
In June, the Midwest Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Summit brought together more than 130 stakeholders to advance FAFSA completion efforts across the Midwest. The summit was hosted by MHEC in Chicago in collaboration with the National College Attainment Network and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, with support from the STRADA Foundation. State teams mapped out organizations and resources dedicated to FAFSA support in their regions and identified challenges and opportunities to strengthen collaboration, connectedness, and communication.

To build on summit insights, MHEC committed to hold three virtual follow-up meetings for state teams in August 2024, December 2024/January 2025, and March 2025.These calls provide opportunities to take each state’s unique context into account as well as to learn about initiatives in other states.

SARA Policy Modification Proposals Approved
Ten State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA) policy modification proposals were approved by all four regional compacts through their regional steering committees (RSCs) to move forward for a vote by the NC-SARA Board. SARA provides a voluntary, regional approach to state oversight of postsecondary distance education.

Driving Cost Savings and Business Solutions

MHEC Issues $1.1M in Dividends to Former Master Property Program Participants
This month, MHEC distributed an additional $1.1M in dividends to 49 institutions that participated in the Master Property Program (MPP), a group property insurance coverage that concluded in 2023. This latest dividend distribution will be the final one from EPIC, which was a rent-a-captive managed by Captive Resources, Inc.  

From 2021-2023, MHEC supported the Master Property Program with its solely owned captive, Stone Arch Insurance Company. Institutions who participated in the MPP during that time may be eligible for a final round of dividend distribution when the program completes resolving its remaining 12 claims, anticipated to occur in the next 12-18 months.  

MHEC also continues to offer supplemental Fine Arts, Terrorism, and Builder’s Risk programs to higher education institutions. These programs are tailored to the specific needs of higher education. MHEC is also exploring future ways to support higher education institutions with insurance and risk management needs. We welcome your input on this subject. If you are interested in learning more about those opportunities or have input to share, please contact Breanne Hegg.

Advancing Innovation, Efficiency & Effectiveness

IT Leadership Launchpad Series Builds Connections & Creativity
"Hidden Gems: Maximizing Your Current IT Assets" is the subject of the final session in the IT Leadership Launchpad series offered by MHEC. Join MHEC December 10, 3 P.M. CT, for a deep dive into strategies for leveraging existing tech, processes, and relationships to create maximum value.

This series focused on creating space spaces for participants to share ideas and discuss challenges. Sessions have included discussions on the critical role of organizational change management in successful IT initiatives, the value of proactive approaches to staff succession planning and cross training, the need for multiple communication channels and strategies to effectively reach different stakeholders, and the importance of building relationships within the institution and with external partners to better address challenges.

Convenings

FAFSA 2025-26: What You Need to Know

December 5, 2 P.M.
Get ahead of your FAFSA completion support efforts with this webinar. Learn about critical changes and get a peek into what’s new. Hear firsthand from an organization that participated in Beta testing.
 
Mark Your Calendars: Effordability Summit

April 7-8, 2025
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Free conference open to students, faculty, administrators, and all those interested in the use, development, and creation of quality and affordable curricular content.

Commissioner Appointments

MHEC welcomes its new Commissioner from Nebraska: Matthew Blomstedt, Associate Vice President for Government Relations, University of Nebraska System
Term: 10/3/2024 to 1/1/2027

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law House Bill 5522, which adds a member to Michigan's delegation to MHEC. The Director of the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential will serve as a non-voting member of MHEC.

Team Updates

MHEC Staff News

MHEC welcomes Carrie Wandler as Director of Policy Initiatives at MHEC. She has more than 20 years of experience as an educator and administrator in higher eduction. Most recently, she served as director of new business development and continuing education at St. Catherine University. Learn more about Carrie.

MHEC bids farewell to intern Zola Davis, a student at the University of Minnesota who did terrific work over the past six months during her internship with MHEC. We wish her the best as she embarks upon studies abroad in Spain.

Articles and Resources of Interest

2025 EDUCAUSE Top 10: Restoring Trust
EDUCAUSE | October 28, 2024

New Nebraskan Scholarship helps equalize tuition (MSEP mention)
The Antelope | October 28, 2024

Cincinnati high school students on the affordability and value of a college degree (MHEC mentioned)
WVXU | October 24, 2024

UToledo Librarian Advocates For Free-to-Student Course Materials (MHEC mentioned)
The University of Toledo | October 18, 2024