Private Colleges Grateful for Legislative Support

PRESS RELEASE: 
 Private Colleges Grateful for Legislative Support

Topeka, KS, April 28th, 2023: The members of the Kansas Independent College Association thank the leaders in the Kansas Legislature for continuing to try to correct an injustice done to the Kansans who choose a small private college education. We are grateful that the omnibus budget again takes steps to restore the historically fair approach to the state’s only true need-based aid program – the Kansas Comprehensive Grant.

Kansas’ private colleges educate nearly 25,000 students – more than 12% of the college students in the state. Each year, more than 20% of the college graduates in Kansas come from Kansas’ private colleges.  However, the state only provides 1% of its budget to support those students.  Nearly 99% of the state’s higher education spending goes to the public universities and their students.

The graduates of our state’s private colleges are critical to the Kansas workforce across multiple sectors, and throughout all areas of the state.  A significant share of the state’s teachers, nurses, IT professionals, mental health professionals, and business leaders graduate from one of the twenty private colleges. 

In short, private college students are Kansans too.

Their choice to pursue a smaller, more personally-centered education over the goliath public universities should not mean those students are any less deserving of the state’s support. Moreover, Kansas’ private institutions are essential economic engines in eighteen communities, generating more than $1.1 billion in annual economic impact.  Much of that is concentrated in smaller communities whose future prosperity is intricately tied to the fate of the college. The state’s interest should be in the ongoing vibrancy of these private colleges.

We are thus extremely thankful that the Legislature recognizes the value of private colleges in the state and the importance of supporting all Kansas students in line with time-honored commitments embedded in the Kansas Comprehensive Grant. In the FY2023 budget, the Governor and Legislature added approximately $100 million in new funding to the public universities. Making a $5 million investment in the Kansans who choose to attend a Kansas private colleges is welcome.

We ask Governor Kelly to sign the omnibus budget as presented, and we hope she sees that our Kansas students are just as deserving of the state’s support as they have always been.

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Located in Topeka, the Kansas Independent College Foundation is a 501(c)3 that develops and enhances the competitive standing of its 20-member independent, non-profit, regionally accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and strives to assure opportunity and choice in higher education for all students. For more information on the Foundation, please contact Jesyca Hope at 785-235-9877 or jesyca@kscolleges.org.