There is an increasingly intense debate among state lawmakers and leaders in the North Dakota University System about the impact online education is having on the state's public campuses.

"My concern is about this conversation becoming so toxic," university system Commissioner Brent Sanford said on this episode of Plain Talk.

Sanford -- who is now using the title "commissioner" instead of "chancellor" like his predecessors because the former is the term used in state law -- says he understands the concerns some lawmakers have, but also wants them to understand his argument, which is that most of the online students are a boon to the state.

Sure, some of them might never step foot in the state, and it doesn't make a lot of sense for North Dakota taxpayers to subsidize them, but in the aggregate students taking online courses from our public institutions of higher education is a good thing, he argues.

What needs to happen, Sanford says, is for the various campuses to better illustrate who we're talking about for lawmakers. "The chore I've been giving the presidents on this is you need to come back to the legislators with who these students are, how is there value from these students," he said.

"Bismarck State allowed an online energy management bachelor degree, giving credit for the entire associate degree," Sanford continued, citing one example. Students currently working as electrical linemen "could finish that online, stay in their job, and all sudden they can be a grid operator instead of being a lineman."

He also suggested that students seeking agriculture-related degrees could continue living on the family farm, and helping with things like planting and harvest, even as they take their classes.

Sanford also discussed the NDUS efforts to fill four presidential vacancies at various institutions, including the departure of President David Cook from North Dakota State University.

Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss the ongoing controversy around the Ethics Commission.

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