Leaders of the Kansas University School of Business have agreed to new oversight procedures after several students expressed concerns about how a special tuition program has been managed.

The dean of the KU business school acknowledged in a letter obtained by the Journal-World that a student advisory committee has been allowed to go dormant for about the last 20 months.

A group of about a half-dozen MBA students have filed complaints over the lapse, saying the lack of student oversight has allowed the school to spend special tuition dollars in unintended ways.

“It is clear that what has happened is that the dean has eliminated the oversight so the dollars could be used however he saw fit,” said Andrew Carlson, an MBA student who has filed multiple complaints.

‘Lot of questions’

Jack Martin, a university spokesman, said that was not the case, but said the school does recognize the need to restart a student advisory committee.

“The business school has said it absolutely will convene this group,” Martin said. “I can tell you that they have been meeting with these students, and that they understand these students have a lot of questions.”

The concerns center on the school’s differential tuition program. The program adds approximately $95 per credit hour to the tuition fees for business courses.

Questions about the oversight of the program have been raised at multiple levels at the university. Outgoing KU Provost Danny Anderson has met with the students on three occasions, and new Board of Regents member Ed McKechnie said he had been made aware of some of the concerns.

“I don’t think the processes probably are as clear as one would expect them to be,” McKechnie said of how the business school has accounted for the special tuition dollars. “The question is whether the information is available and whether it is being shared in a thoughtful way.”

McKechnie said he believes the issue deserves attention from KU’s incoming provost Jeffrey Vitter, who officially begins work Thursday.

“I think the new provost starting (Wednesday) morning, this will be just one of the issues that he’ll have to confront,” McKechnie said. “KU has seen a lot of change and has needed new leadership for a number of years. And this is an opportunity to fix some things.”

Program history

When the special tuition program was approved in 2004, the proposal taken to the Board of Regents called for the student advisory committee, and also required the dean to prepare a semiannual report of how the differential tuition funds have been used. The proposal called for that report to be electronically distributed to all business students.

In the April 28 letter, business school leaders said that reporting requirement was changed by the initial advisory committee shortly after the tuition program began. Instead of issuing the semiannual report and distributing it to all students, the school decided to provide updates via presentations to student groups.

Dean Bill Fuerst wasn’t available for comment on Wednesday.

But Martin said university leaders do believe the school has used the differential tuition dollars wisely. Since the special tuition program began, the school has added majors in Finance, Marketing, Management, and Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, a memo from school leaders noted. The funding also has been used for scholarships, study abroad programs, teaching assistant positions, and has allowed 26 additional MBA classes to be offered on the Lawrence campus.

But Carlson said the changes in how program spending has been reported have eroded trust in the school’s leadership.

“It is a state institution,” Carlson said. “Accountability and transparency should reign.”

Carlson and students in his group are not alleging that the school has illegally used the money.

“I don’t think they are cutting checks to themselves or anything like that,” Carlson said. “I just think they are wasting money. If there had been a student advisory committee in place, these expenses wouldn’t have happened because the students would have called them on it.”