“The narrative is that it’s getting worse, and it’s actually materially getting better.”
“This is a fundamentally disrupted enterprise, fundamentally. I find that invigorating.”
“What we do to me is more important than ever.”
Washington State University President Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell is launching a decade-long realignment of the state’s land-grant university — a public service institution with a statewide teaching, research and extension mission — arguing that role is at risk amid budget cuts, enrollment pressures and rapid change in higher education.
Cantwell is urging lawmakers in the 2026 legislative session to reconsider proposed cuts that fall more heavily on research universities. “That doesn’t make sense,” she said, warning that damage to research capacity can take “about 10 years to rebuild.”
WSU faces declining enrollment, rising fixed costs and uncertainty around federal research funding. “We’ve cut every piece of administration or operations that we can,” Cantwell said. “We are now looking at programmatic cuts… something is going to hurt somebody.”
She rejects claims that four-year degrees no longer pay off, noting most WSU students graduate without debt. Still, she cites a looming demographic cliff and is targeting retention, adult learners and employer needs.
Cantwell calls higher education “the most important national security mission we have” and says WSU’s redesign — including AI-driven efficiencies and new revenue strategies — will take a decade to fully realize.