photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Strong Hall on the University of Kansas campus is pictured in September 2021.

Kansas’ higher education system would get about $100 million in new state money under the governor’s recommended budget unveiled Wednesday, funding everything from a tuition freeze to wage increases at the University of Kansas and other universities.

“We think it is a great day for higher education,” Cheryl Harrison-Lee, chair of the Kansas Board of Regents, told the Journal-World.

Well, preliminarily a great day. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s recommended budget still has to make its way through a Republican-controlled legislature. Harrison-Lee thinks the higher education components of the budget have a chance to win approval.

“I’m optimistic,” Harrison-Lee said. “As we come out of the COVID economic crisis, I think there is a great desire to help families to be able to get back on their feet economically, and this is one way to do that.”

As part of the increased funding, the state’s universities — including KU — would have to agree to freeze tuition rates for the upcoming school year. The recommended budget also includes a new $50 million scholarship program — half funded by the state and half funded by private donations each school would solicit — to help families struggling to pay for college.

There’s also $25 million in new funding for deferred maintenance of university buildings and $20 million to upgrade information technology systems at universities and community colleges.

A key Republican on the House Higher Education Budget Committee predicted the committee would give serious consideration to the governor’s proposals, but said it was still too early to assess the prospects for approval.

Rep. Ken Rahjes, R-Agra, said Republicans have been supportive of the idea of freezing tuition in the past, and also have shown some interest in addressing the maintenance needs of older buildings on campus.

“I think there are some things we definitely can work toward,” said Rahjes, a past chair of the committee. “If they can show they are good, wise investments, I think some of them have a chance.”

Harrison-Lee said the Regents will advocate that the state’s higher education system is in need of a major financial infusion to stop it from falling behind the systems of other states. Concerns about the health of the state’s higher education system have grown as universities haven’t seen enrollments bounce back after the major disruptions of the pandemic. The state’s six major universities have lost about 1,750 full-time students — or about 2.5% — since the fall of 2020. That’s despite most of the universities holding tuition rates steady during the pandemic.

“We were really concerned that if our trajectory of the college-going continues to decline and we are not able to see some additional budgetary or fiscal support, we could really be challenged with our system,” Harrison-Lee said. “This is a nice opportunity to change the trajectory.”

Here’s a look at some of the key recommendations in Kelly’s budget:

• Total money: State general funding for the Regents and individual schools would top the $1 billion mark for the first time, if Kelly’s budget is approved. State general funds allocated to the Kansas Board of Regents would be slightly more than $1 billion, up from $905 million in the current fiscal year. That’s an increase of 10.8%.

• Money to share: The Regents are recommended to receive $378 million to distribute to the state’s public universities and community colleges. That’s up from $265 million in the current fiscal year.

• KU funding: Each state university gets a certain amount of money that the Legislature allocates directly to the school. KU is recommended to receive $142.3 million in state general fund money, which is actually down from $145.7 million in the current budget year. But KU’s budget may still come out much improved, as long as KU gets a proportional share of the roughly $113 million of new money that the Board of Regents is receiving. A KU spokeswoman on Wednesday afternoon did not respond to a request for comment on the governor’s recommendation.

• Pay raises: Kelly has recommended a 5% wage increase for state employees. A Regents official said some of the new money in the higher education budget can be used for wage increases, but the amount for university employees is unsettled.

“I wouldn’t say it is so simple that everybody gets a 5% raise,” Elaine Frisbie, vice president of finance and administration for the Regents, told the Journal-World. “But thank heavens the governor is putting this forward.”

Frisbie said the last time the state’s budget included a wage increase for university employees was in fiscal year 2020. She said the complication related to how much the wage increase may be for university employees is tied to the fact that the governor’s 5% proposed increase only covers wages paid with state funds. Many university employees are paid with a mix of state funds and other funds, such as research grants, endowments or other sources. If universities want to give a true 5% increase to everyone, they’ll have to find money in their budgets to increase the wages not funded by state general fund dollars, she said.

“While they will be wildly excited to provide an increase, there will be a cost to it,” she said.

• Scholarship funding: The recommended budget includes $25 million in state funding for a new Kansas Access Partnership Grant program. The program would provide up $5,000 in grant money to Kansas residents who are “need-based” and are pursuing an undergraduate degree. It would be a “last-dollar” grant, meaning it would be awarded on top of other financial aid and scholarships a student may receive. The program will require that every dollar of state funding be matched with a dollar of gift money raised by the schools.

• Tuition freeze: The governor is recommending $45.7 million be given to the universities for general operations, in exchange for a one-year tuition freeze at all the schools. Harrison-Lee said the Board of Regents — which sets tuition rates at each university — understands the need to control tuition costs. The last time the Regents approved a tuition increase for KU was in fiscal year 2020.