Recommendations

CHAPTER 7. FINANCE

In order to implement the recommendations of this report regarding postsecondary institutions and the students attending these institutions, it will be necessary to revise the present system of financing postsecondary education in such a manner that all institutions will be treated alike insofar as possible as regards financing from state sources. The following provide the essential considerations:

RECOMMENDATION NO. 12. Tuition (or fees) to be paid by each student attending a public institution should be determined every two years and should be equal to 25 percent of the cost per full-time equivalent student for each institution.

RECOMMENDATION NO. 13. State and federal appropriations should cover the remaining 75 percent of the cost per full-time equivalent student for each institution. Institutional funds obtained from endowments and other non-public sources should be excluded from the computation of state and federal appropriations. With the student, the state and federal governments providing the whole of institutional expenditures the current provision for out-district tuition would be abandoned.

RECOMMENDATION NO. 14. A student assistance program should be established on the basis of need and made available to all Kansans in attendance at public or private postsecondary institutions. This aid should not exceed an amount equal to demonstrated need, the cost of tuition and fees at the institution where the student is in attendance or an amount initially set at $1400, whichever is less. Any federal aid to students not directly applicable to tuition payments and any funded scholarship grants should be excluded.

RECOMMENDATION NO. 15. The State Commission should give future consideration to the student assuming a larger proportion of the cost of his education, together with an expanded student aid program. Consideration should also be given to the provision of tuition incentives geared to state priorities.

RECOMMENDATION NO. 16. A statewide fund should be established to cover future outlays at public institutions for capital expenditures for buildings and equipment.

Implementation

CHAPTER 8. PROCEDURE AND TIMING

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The Master Planning Commission urges that recommendations of this Report receive immediate consideration. For some of the recommendations timely enactment is essential.

Adoption of the provisions for governance of postsecondary education should be accomplished in the 1973 Legislative session. The MPC gives utmost priority to the creation of a coordinated system of postsecondary education. The accomplishment of that goal depends upon the enactment of legislation providing for overall planning and overall management. 19

Provision for governance is important not only in its own right but also in view of the pressing deadline for implementation of the Education Amendments of 1972. In general, provisions of that act became effective after June 30, 1972 and with respect to appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1973.

Legislative provision for the State Commission identified in Recommendation No. 8 should be accomplished early in 1973 and such Commission should be designated as the State Commission in accordance with Title XII, Section 1202 (a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended by the Education Amendments of 1972. After July 1, the present Kansas State Education Commission will be subsumed under the "1202" State Commission.

The State Commission should be composed of 11 public members, two from each Congressional District and one at large, appointed by the Legislature, who are "broadly and equitably representative of the general public and public and private non-profit and proprietary institutions of postsecondary education in the state including community colleges (as defined in Title X), junior colleges, postsecondary vocational schools, area vocational schools, technical institutes, four-year institutions of higher education and branches thereof."

Provision for the State Management Agency, identified in Recommendation No. 9, should be accomplished at the earliest possible date by amendment to the Kansas State Constitution removing the provision for the State Board of Regents followed by

19 The thrust of the MPC's recommendation is to establish an independent and comprehensive planning function in the State Commission and a responsibility for overall management in the State Management Agency. It is the MPC's understanding of the Education Amendments of 1972 that this position is consistent with the new federal legislation. The specific nature of the relationship of the State Commission and the State Management Agency to the Education Amendments of 1972 will be clarified in the forthcoming federal guidelines.

legislative creation of the State Management Agency. This action would tend to establish an atmosphere of equitable treatment for all of postsecondary education.

Because of time constraints, however, it is recommended that the Board of Regents organization be assigned the functions of the State Management Agency on an interim basis. Because of the need to begin this new approach to governance with a commitment to equitable treatment for all postsecondary education, it is especially important that the Board of Regents consciously concern itself with its expanded role. In order to fully carry out that role, the Board of Regents should be designated as the state agency responsible for administration of occupational educational programs in accordance with Title X, Section 1055 (a) of the federal Education Amendments of 1972.

Consistent with the recommendation for an overall State Management Agency, all authority over community junior colleges and area vocational-technical schools now residing with the State Board of Education should be terminated simultaneously with the expansion of the Board of Regents authority.