Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little Tuesday outlined a plan to increase retention and graduation rates and research funding.

Gray-Little said KU wants to increase the first-to-second year retention rate of students from 79 percent to 90 percent.

She said she wants at least 70 percent of freshman to have graduated within six years. That rate is now 61 percent.

“Achieving these goals will put us in line with our aspirational peers around the nation,” she told the House Education Budget Committee.

To reach these rates, the school will use an early intervention program for students who fall behind. And KU is revising its core curriculum to make it easier for students to transfer to the school, she said.

To enhance recruitment of students, KU also will start offering a new four-year renewable scholarship this fall. The scholarships will be based on academic performance.

KU is trying to increase its federal research expenditures from $127 million to $175 million.

Gray-Little voiced support for several recommendations from Gov. Sam Brownback.

Those include $3 million in additional funding to recruit world-class professors; a $1.8 million increase for additional student loans at the KU Medical Center; and continuance of the $5 million annual appropriation for the KU Cancer Center.

The Education Budget Committee will hear from other schools throughout the week.