Higher-ed has room to cut budgets

I admire and respect the presidents and leaders of Kentucky’s public colleges and universities. I consider University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto, Eastern Kentucky University President Michael Benson and Somerset Community College President Jo Marshall personal friends.

It is with that respect for them, the institutions they represent and the students they serve that I say the time has come for a pause in raising the cost of higher education in the commonwealth, which is why I agreed to cosponsor Senate Bill 75.

Senate Bill 75 would freeze college tuition at current rates and keep tuition at that same amount for four years in all public universities in Kentucky. I commend my colleague, Sen. Dan Seum, for filing this legislation. I was spurred to join on as a cosponsor after reading a Wall Street Journal article stating that U.S. colleges received a record amount of donations in 2015, and that is mirrored here in Kentucky.

For years, our state’s public universities and colleges have continued to raise tuition and at an alarming rate, far exceeding any cuts that have been made to their general fund appropriations over the last decade.

These institutions should further identify more efficient cost-saving measures and stop growing individual salaries and building empires off the backs of students. Along with massive debt, many students are graduating with degrees that often do not help them get jobs.

There are many other aspects of higher education that deserve a closer look.

The University of Kentucky spent over $1 billion on campus construction projects in recent years and the work was awarded mainly to New York City companies and other out-of-state entities.

We have many qualified and capable Kentucky contractors who would help keep that money in Kentucky. Also consider this, when the Great Recession began in 2008, the University of Louisville started hiring over 1,000 new employees over the following few years. How is that possible?

I was recently presented a list of professors’ salaries at the University of Kentucky and many were more than $200,000 a year. I also recently learned that the executive director at the Council of Postsecondary Education receives an annual salary of $360,000 per year with a $40,000 annual housing allowance.

Many of the citizens of the commonwealth cannot tell you what CPE’s primary functions are. For that matter, many legislators and those in the educational field cannot, either.

As chairman of the Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee, I have grown tired of hearing universities complaining about not having any money; yet they somehow always come back to the committee with a request to increase the scope of their projects and, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, they find the money.

Let us not forget about the good that has come from our universities. There are many examples of tremendous work going on in the areas of research, entrepreneurship, and helping many students expand their horizons and reach their potential.

However, while many may debate the merits or need of SB 75, I hope that all can agree it is time to see reform in higher education accompanied by greater transparency. Gov. Matt Bevin is leading the way with his proposal for performance-based funding. SB 75 is a huge step in the right direction as well.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Higher-ed has room to cut budgets."