Why should U of A alumnus continue donating to the university system when it isn't crystal clear how many classroom position are going to be gutted?  Administrative costs need to be scaled down before classrooms take a hit.  If the board of regents are being paid, are they going to take a financial hit too?  Instead of having nine regents, what about paring that number down to five?  Consolidation can sometimes be a bad idea.  The last time the board of regents gave the order to consolidate, smaller communities took most of the financial gutting and academic programs were completely eliminated, which forced students to either move to Anchorage, Fairbanks, or  chose an out of state college.  Times have, indeed, changed and now any college-age student can take Distance Delivery courses and still obtain a degree as good as or better than students that sit in a classroom.  It's too bad the Republican legislators don't take their own fiscal gutting advise.