Minnesota State may close campuses, merge schools in effort to 'right-size'

ST PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota State system is a massive network of 33 colleges and universities spread across 54 Minnesota campuses, but its board of trustees has given Chancellor Scott Olson a clear directive. 

"Shrink the physical footprint," Olson said. "Maybe that means fewer campuses, maybe that means fewer buildings on the campuses that we have."

Olson says audited financial statements are still being tallied for the last year, but Minnesota faces a structural deficit of at least $30 million.

"By the time we get this November audit, one in four of our institutions will be in some kind of financial distress," he said. "When they go below a certain threshold, it triggers a metric, and we use that metric then to step in and say, we'v...