State funding to Kansas State University has steadily decreased over the last ten years.

Despite that news, KSU President Richard Myers said he doesn’t anticipate any budget cuts in the remainder of fiscal year 2017.

“We don’t have much time to adjust if they give us a cut, but that’s been pretty much ruled out and I think we all breathed a big sigh of relief,” said Myers. “Anything is possible, the Legislature is still in session, but we think we will not take a cut in this fiscal year.”

Monies from the State to KSU have decreased by nearly $40 million over the last decade.

“It’s over ten years, but it’s a little bit here, a little bit there; and some of it was late in the fiscal year, so you can’t plan, you can’t do the kind of budgeting you’d like to do with any certainty,” said Myers.

K-State is among the worst in the Big 12 conference when it comes to employee salaries.

“If you look at our overall salary structure compared to the rest of the Big 12, we’re not at the top – we’re at the bottom, and it’s not a place we want to be,” said Myers. “Your revenue streams are the State and tuition, so [depending on] how the State budget stabilizes and then can we get our enrollment turned around, we’ve had a dip here in the last couple of years.”

Myers noted that there is an effort in the Legislature to rewrite tax laws and create more tax revenues for fiscal year 2018 to which he stated, “that would be spectacular, and might lead to more certainty around our budget here at Kansas State.”

Nearly all of Kansas’ public universities have increased tuition costs amid budget cuts to higher education.

Fiscal year 2017 ends June 30th.