Report from The Kansas City Star:

Quote:LAWRENCE: The upcoming budget cuts at the University of Kansas will prevent the school from facing a deficit of about $87 million by fiscal year 2023, interim provost Carl Lejuez said on June 6. He spoke in Lawrence at what he said would be one of many town halls about the budgetary changes.

KU announced on May 29 that it will cut $20 million from its budget, the equivalent of 5.87 percent spread across each department and unit. It will reduce faculty hiring, and some staff and administrative positions have already been cut. Tuition will increase by no more than 2.5 percent but less than that if possible, Lejuez said.

The university is already set to use up its central funds for incoming fiscal year 2019, according to the data provided at the town hall and on the provost’s website

Quote:But he realized in May, just weeks after becoming interim provost, that the school had already committed to spending money it wasn’t going to have in the next few years because administration had not been using a long-term budget forecast.

Lejuez cited slower increases in revenue, increased expenditures within the past five years and the failure to factor in inflation as additional reasons KU is in its current financial situation. He also said the university based its past budget decisions on best-case scenarios instead of for things “to not go exactly as planned.”

Whoops...

I can't say for certain that this is indicative of anything deeper or just a matter of poor planning on the part of the administration.

Nonetheless, KU is getting ready to spend hundreds of millions on athletics and this is not going to be a good look.

The state of Kansas is not large and is not really growing. KU is going to need more athletic revenue as well as more exposure in the American marketplace so they can build up their resources. Not sure the Big 12 can do that for them in the long term.

(06-18-2018 03:14 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Report from The Kansas City Star:

Quote:LAWRENCE: The upcoming budget cuts at the University of Kansas will prevent the school from facing a deficit of about $87 million by fiscal year 2023, interim provost Carl Lejuez said on June 6. He spoke in Lawrence at what he said would be one of many town halls about the budgetary changes.

KU announced on May 29 that it will cut $20 million from its budget, the equivalent of 5.87 percent spread across each department and unit. It will reduce faculty hiring, and some staff and administrative positions have already been cut. Tuition will increase by no more than 2.5 percent but less than that if possible, Lejuez said.

The university is already set to use up its central funds for incoming fiscal year 2019, according to the data provided at the town hall and on the provost’s website

Quote:But he realized in May, just weeks after becoming interim provost, that the school had already committed to spending money it wasn’t going to have in the next few years because administration had not been using a long-term budget forecast.

Lejuez cited slower increases in revenue, increased expenditures within the past five years and the failure to factor in inflation as additional reasons KU is in its current financial situation. He also said the university based its past budget decisions on best-case scenarios instead of for things “to not go exactly as planned.”

Whoops...

I can't say for certain that this is indicative of anything deeper or just a matter of poor planning on the part of the administration.

Nonetheless, KU is getting ready to spend hundreds of millions on athletics and this is not going to be a good look.

The state of Kansas is not large and is not really growing. KU is going to need more athletic revenue as well as more exposure in the American marketplace so they can build up their resources. Not sure the Big 12 can do that for them in the long term.

Enrollment is down. The state isn't really growing. Pro sports take way too much away from both Missouri and Kansas, and this is why I seriously doubt the Big 10 is interested in a Kansas / Oklahoma pairing.

It's no longer your granddaddy's Kansas or even your daddy's Kansas. This is shrinking Heartland Kansas. If they were smart they would beg the SEC to let them in since many of our states are growing.

The Big 10 doesn't need their markets because they already carry them. I don't think Delany will be in the mood to offer another school with a broken budget (Maryland & Rutgers) especially when it already owns its markets and it is a small population state with another dispersed alumni base.

BTW: I think they fired that assistant A.D. that leaked that realignment was coming and that they needed to fund that 327 million plus facilities upgrade for football. It also seems to me that they haven't even raised 1/3rd of of that figure yet. So it might be a bigger deal than people think.

(06-18-2018 03:55 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(06-18-2018 03:14 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Report from The Kansas City Star:

Quote:LAWRENCE: The upcoming budget cuts at the University of Kansas will prevent the school from facing a deficit of about $87 million by fiscal year 2023, interim provost Carl Lejuez said on June 6. He spoke in Lawrence at what he said would be one of many town halls about the budgetary changes.

KU announced on May 29 that it will cut $20 million from its budget, the equivalent of 5.87 percent spread across each department and unit. It will reduce faculty hiring, and some staff and administrative positions have already been cut. Tuition will increase by no more than 2.5 percent but less than that if possible, Lejuez said.

The university is already set to use up its central funds for incoming fiscal year 2019, according to the data provided at the town hall and on the provost’s website

Quote:But he realized in May, just weeks after becoming interim provost, that the school had already committed to spending money it wasn’t going to have in the next few years because administration had not been using a long-term budget forecast.

Lejuez cited slower increases in revenue, increased expenditures within the past five years and the failure to factor in inflation as additional reasons KU is in its current financial situation. He also said the university based its past budget decisions on best-case scenarios instead of for things “to not go exactly as planned.”

Whoops...

I can't say for certain that this is indicative of anything deeper or just a matter of poor planning on the part of the administration.

Nonetheless, KU is getting ready to spend hundreds of millions on athletics and this is not going to be a good look.

The state of Kansas is not large and is not really growing. KU is going to need more athletic revenue as well as more exposure in the American marketplace so they can build up their resources. Not sure the Big 12 can do that for them in the long term.

Enrollment is down. The state isn't really growing. Pro sports take way too much away from both Missouri and Kansas, and this is why I seriously doubt the Big 10 is interested in a Kansas / Oklahoma pairing.

It's no longer your granddaddy's Kansas or even your daddy's Kansas. This is shrinking Heartland Kansas. If they were smart they would beg the SEC to let them in since many of our states are growing.

The Big 10 doesn't need their markets because they already carry them. I don't think Delany will be in the mood to offer another school with a broken budget (Maryland & Rutgers) especially when it already owns its markets and it is a small population state with another dispersed alumni base.

BTW: I think they fired that assistant A.D. that leaked that realignment was coming and that they needed to fund that 327 million plus facilities upgrade for football. It also seems to me that they haven't even raised 1/3rd of of that figure yet. So it might be a bigger deal than people think.

I would agree that Kansas needs Sunbelt students and they probably need the ones from TX most. They need exposure in growing markets and not just geographical proximity.

I think too that officials might have been requesting this sort of move for some time now...the ESPN article from several years ago implied that strongly.

I actually think Texas and Oklahoma seem to prefer Kansas as a partner, especially OU with their long shared history. Incorporating KU into a broader move probably helps us land the big fish. That's the way I look at it anyway.

How much is KU still paying off Charlie Weis and that other guy? They haven't been very fiscally astute, have they?

The Sam Brownback era (2011-18) was not generous to public education. Jeff Colyer is Governor now. Not sure the direction they are going now.

The SEC doesn't need Kansas.