Since 2009, Kentucky's public universities have been grappling with reoccurring state budget cuts to the tune of more than $150 million.
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education President Bob King briefed lawmakers on the state of higher education funding this week. He says increases in pension, maintenance and healthcare costs combined with financial aid to students make the actual number much higher.
“It’s somewhere north of $900 million,” King said.
Even with recent tuition hikes, a hole of roughly $350 million remains. That leaves colleges to find creative ways to fill the gap.
However, King says despite these cuts, he’s seen some universities improve graduation rates and overall performance.
“The risk is we’re continuing to improve performance with fewer and fewer financial resources. The legislature may turn around and say, ‘we’ll cut you more because you produce more,’” King said.
“We’re at a point now at literally every institution where the notion of doing more with less, which has been a very popular kind of cliché - the reality is, we’re going to end up doing less with less.”
The current funding system is set up on what King calls the basis of historic shares. Schools don’t receive more or less cash based on performance, enrollment, and other factors.
King wants to change that to reflect each schools' changes over time, though he still wants to keep the "historic shares" concept intact.
“Early on, the presidents were not very enthusiastic about that. But more recently, our board has gotten involved and said, ‘No, we need this’ and a number of the presidents have pushed, finally, to do this,” King said.
Criteria to be considered in the potential new funding mechanism include:
- Graduation rates and student performance
- Doctorates and other credentials produced
- The closure of achievement gaps among students
- The number of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and health students
- Addressing issues for minority or low-income students
A school that’s found itself in an odd position with this potential transition is Kentucky State University. King says the school has seen significant decline in enrollment and performance, and is treated a bit differently in the current funding system.
“As a consequence, we’re probably going to have to give them a little bit of slack in room and time to get them up to speed, so that they can be treated more similarly to the rest of the institutions,” King said.
King says he hopes by next spring, he can reach an agreement with the Council along with the 10 presidents of universities the CPE works with.
