With less money coming from the state legislature, regents of the Kansas university system have apparently told colleges to just be more resourceful about raising money. According to an article by Scott Rothschild in the Lawrence Journal-World:
Kansas Regents officials on Thursday told university leaders to keep searching for new ways to raise funds.
Looking back at previous cuts in state funding to higher education and forward to little or no increase in the foreseeable future, Regent Dan Lykins of Topeka described it as a “sad issue.” Regents Vice Chair Ed McKechnie, of Arcadia, called that the “doomsday budget” and one that higher education institutions in Kansas should prepare for by finding ways to better market and deliver their product, such as the use of more online course offerings.
It’s hard to market a product when it’s the same thing that you’re always offered, only now more expensive.
But even improving “marketing and delivery” won’t entirely address that 12 percent budget cut that the university system has weathered over the last two years.
In an effort to address budget cuts the University of Kansas will increase in-state tuition 5.5 percent in the fall, from $8,024 to $8,468 a year.
