UMKC, other Missouri colleges ponder effects of Gov. Eric Greitens’ cuts to higher education

Missouri’s colleges know absorbing the millions Gov. Eric Greitens is cutting from higher education is a challenge, but whether it will cost jobs or programs, or lead to tuition hikes, is not clear.

“We will be having discussions with our leadership over the next few weeks to develop a strategy going forward to address the decrease in funding,” said John Fougere, spokesman for the University of Missouri System, which has four campuses — Columbia, Kansas City, St. Louis and Rolla.

Greitens said Monday that with Missouri facing lower-than-expected revenues and a poor state economy, he is cutting nearly $150 million from the state budget. A chunk of that hits Missouri’s two- and four-year colleges pretty hard.

Among Greitens’ cuts is $55.9 million from the “core funding” for four-year schools, and $11.9 million in similar cuts for community colleges.

For the University of Missouri-Kansas City, that will mean a $5.8 million reduction in its core operating budget, according to a memo sent from UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton to the university community Tuesday.

“While this situation is challenging, it is not unexpected,” Morton said in the memo. He said that while UMKC will need to make immediate moves to address the governor’s announcement, it will continue with cost-saving initiatives already underway. That includes shared services and reviewing academic units to ensure UMKC is optimizing the dollars invested in academics.

Morton also mentioned that UMKC would consider changes to its tuition and scholarship structures and would continue reviewing requests made to fill open positions.

“Every administrative department, and every academic unit, will be called upon to make sacrifices,” Morton said in his letter. He said UMKC will stay committed to its core mission — teaching, learning, research, service and economic development.

“As we make what will no doubt be painful decisions in dealing with these budget cuts, our No. 1 priority will be to protect that core mission,” he said.

Greitens’ list of cuts does not mention the UMKC downtown arts campus, a coveted project in Kansas City, for which the university has raised $48 million in private dollars and now is seeking another $48 million in matching funds from the state.

What is included in the cuts is $3.3 million in spending for UMKC’s Free Enterprise Center.

The Free Enterprise Center is to be housed in a new building at the site of a vacant structure at 215 Volker Blvd. The multidisciplinary center would serve the School of Computing and Engineering and the Henry W. Bloch School of Management.

In May 2015, then-Gov. Jay Nixon had said that money was available to complete funding for the $14.8 million center. UMKC had already raised half the money, $7.4 million, in private donations.

Another $808,331 in spending is being trimmed from the UMKC/Missouri State University doctorate pharmacy program, along with more than $1.2 million in spending for a UMKC and Missouri Southern State University cooperative dental program.

And $215,556 is being cut from UMKC’s center for neighborhoods initiative, a project started to help expand the capacity of neighborhood leaders and organizations in the Kansas City area.

The center, located in the Troost Corridor of the city, provides technical assistance and leadership training to address the challenges of neighborhood revitalization in Kansas City.

Officials at other public colleges in the state said it’s too early to tell how much the cuts will hurt, and some said they worry more cuts could come down the road.

“Metropolitan Community College is in the process of evaluating the impact of proposed cuts to state appropriations on the college,” Christina Medina, a spokeswoman for MCC, said in a statement that calls the cuts “a financial challenge.”

The cuts, for the most part, represent a rollback on additional spending that had been approved by the previous legislature, when the state thought it had more money. It’s money institutions of higher education thought they had in their budgets and now will have to do without going forward.

Cuts to the Missouri Department of Higher Education puts in jeopardy 2017-2018 scholarships for those participating in the state’s A+ program, which pays college tuition and regular fees for qualified students.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 7:36 PM with the headline "UMKC, other Missouri colleges ponder effects of Gov. Eric Greitens’ cuts to higher education."