K-State President Jon Wefald calls Governor's budget recommendations extraordinarily positive

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Source: Jon Wefald, 785-532-6221

Friday, January 12, 2007

K-STATE PRESIDENT JON WEFALD CALLS GOVERNOR'S BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS EXTRAORDINARILY POSITIVE

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University President Jon Wefald today called Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' budget recommendations "terrific" for K-State and the other regents universities. There were no budget cuts at K-State of any kind -- for the main campus, veterinary medicine, the Salina campus or K-State Research and Extension.

"Gov. Sebelius has made some extraordinarily positive recommendations in her budget that will greatly benefit higher education in Kansas," Wefald said. "These are the best recommendations we have received for at least the past five years.

"The Governor is recommending a $30 million increase to the state appropriated Block Grant for the Regents university system. K-State’s share of those additional funds would provide for an average 4 percent salary increase for our faculty, staff and student employees.

"During the past five years, we have relied heavily on tuition rate increases to provide stability to our operating budget and to maintain program quality. Gov. Sebelius’ recommendation would help us avoid a continuation of the double digit tuition increases we have seen in recent years. However we will still need to increase tuition in order to have the funds to provide salary increases for employees paid by tuition and to help maintain the quality of our academic programs," Wefald said.

"We are also pleased that Gov. Sebelius is developing a multi-year plan to address the deferred maintenance issues at K-State and the other universities. Deferred maintenance is a larger issue at K-State than at some of the other universities because our buildings are older and because our research mission requires more complex facilities that are expensive to repair and maintain. We look forward to reviewing the details of the Governor's plan when it is released before the end of the month."

Wefald said another component that benefits K-State is the Governor’s recommendation to provide a $3 million increase to the statewide need-based student financial aid program administered by the Board of Regents.