PSU president to legislators: ‘Higher education is an investment’
Special to the Morning Sun / news@morningsun.net
PITTSBURG, Kan. Advocacy in Topeka has long been one of President Steve Scott’s roles as Pittsburg State University’s top administrator, but his testimony to both the Senate Ways and Means Higher Education Subcommittee and the House Higher Education Budget Committee this week took on a new urgency.
The university’s state funding this year is $1.5 million below 2008 funding levels, and Gov. Laura Kelly has proposed an additional $2 million cut to PSU’s budget for FY22.
A 3.7 percent enrollment decline in the past few years has PSU carefully managing resources. In the last four and a half years, Scott noted, the university has reduced employees by 128, including 51 faculty positions, and has eliminated 52 majors, minors, and certificates over the past decade.