4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 13,2008
CAMPUS
Senators consider bill to lower tuition
Chancellor Robert Hemenway traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to discuss the possibility of a bill that would require universities to put 5 percent of their endowments toward lowering tuition and increasing financial assistance. Members of the KU Endowment Association didn't think the bill would be beneficial for the University because endowment donors were specific about where they wanted their donation to be spent.
Illustration by Max Rinke
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
fchambers@kansan.com
If two senators have their way, the University of Kansas will have to start spending five percent of its endowment. The senators hope the mandate would encourage universities to decrease tuition and spend more of their endowed funds on financial assistance for students. But University officials said such a mandate is unnecessary and it ultimately would not benefit students.
"From our perspective, a federal regulation on the management of private endowments and mandating polices on what private donors contribute and they entrust to the Endowment Association, who they expect to carry out their wishes, would be an unprecedented and unnecessary intrusion," said Dale Seuferling, president of the KU Endowment Association.
Last fall, a rumor began circulating among university administrators and newspapers that a new federal bill would force universities that had more than $500 million in their endowments to use 5 percent of those funds each year. If a university refused, the federal government would begin taxing those funds.
Last month, U.S. Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) requested information about it from the University about KU Endowment Association and its spending patterns. Although a bill has not yet been created, the University is worried.
Seuflerung said he understood the government's concerns about the rising cost of tuition, but he said each university would be a better judge of how to use its endowed funds. He also said funding scholarships was already KU Endowment's top priority.
Seuferling said such a policy would be aimed at schools such as Harvard, which have large endowments but weren't spending those funds on increasing financial aid for students. He said he thought the policy unintentionally included schools like the University, which has a $1.2 billion endowment and has the 60th largest endowment among all universities and the 20th
largest among public universities. The University was one of 136 universities that received information requests.
Seuferling said the association used to spend 5 percent of its funds, but that over the last four years it decreased the amount to 4.6 percent because of the dramatic change in the market. Seuferling said a mandated five percent payout could be hazardous to the University in the future and if so, it would be a hassle to get the policy changed.
Seuferling also said the congressmen did not understand the nature of endowed funds. He said donors, not the University, decided what specific programs and scholarships they wanted to support, so it is sometimes hard for the association to increase the amount of funding to a certain area.
The University has a $1.2 billion endowment and has the 60th largest endowment among all universities and the 20 largest among public universities.
endowment expenditures
Keith Yehle, director of federal relations at the University, said the University's administrative staff, including the Chancellor, Robert Hemenway, and the Provost, Richard Lariviere, traveled to Washington DC. last week to discuss issues like
Only 33 percent of the University's budget is funded by the state and tuition, which means about 66 percent of the University's budget is funded by private gifts.
This year, KU Endowment is providing approximately $26 million for scholarships, fellowships and awards, which is a 10.6 percent increase from last year.
More than 5,400 students receive support from KU Endowment. More than 80 professorships are supported by KU Endowment, totaling more than $20 million for faculty support.
Source: KU Endowment Association
this one with the senators and representatives from Kansas. He said he thought the University's message was well-received.
U. S. Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) said he understood the University's concerns, but there was plenty of time to discuss the issue because the bill is just in the research stage. He said he was unsure when the bill would be finished.
"I've told people here sometimes
congress identifies a very serious problem and in trying to fix it they overact," Moore said. "I don't think the have their expertise to be directing universities how to use their endowment funds. You pull one way and you can end up going too far sometimes."
—Edited by Madeline Hyden
》 SCHOLARSHIPS
BY KELSEY HAYES
khayes@kansan.com
Nearly 15,000 high school students will be named National Merit Finalists before the end of February. It is Gail Sherron's job to persuade them to come to the University of Kansas.
Sherron, associate director of the KU Office of Admissions and Scholarships, is in charge of highbility recruitment, which includes bringing National Merit Scholars to the University. The OAS will continue to court students throughout the spring through weekly correspondence and campus visits.
"We're keeping KU in the forefront of their minds," Sherron said. "We are the premier institution for the state."
The OAS's hands-on approach to recruitment has accelerated in the past four years. The University's merit scholar recruitment
arship offers at Michigan State University and Ohio State University, but declined because she wanted to go to school away from home and the University had her major of choice: architectural engineering.
"They're the parent, and they're giving us an allowance," Sherron said.
Sherron said that budgetary concerns prevented the scholarship from increasing, and that OAS relied on the Kansas University Endowment Association for funds.
"There's a sense of tradition here.
Sherron said that the University had more intangible benefits to students, other than money, although she said that funding was a legitimate concern.
"I think that scholarships should be raised equivalently to the amount that tuition is raised."
peaked five years ago, when 102 scholars joined the class of 2006. This year, there are 35 scholars. Sherron said a change in the scholarship prize was responsible for the decrease in recruitment.
KELLY JENKINS Columbus, Ohio,junior
Before 2003, scholars were awarded the equivalent of 30 credit hours and room and board in a scholarship hall. Now they are awarded a flat scholarship of $10,000 per year for four years.
Kelly Jenkins, Columbus, Ohio, junior and merit scholar, has had to find a campus job to supplement her scholarship prize. She said that this causes a strain on her grade point average, which must remain at 3.25 or higher to retain her scholarship.
"I think that scholarships should be raised equivalently to the amount that tuition is raised," Jenkins said.
whether it its sports or living in Corbin because your mother and grandmother lived there," Sherron said.
Most students in consideration for
Jenkins received better schol
the national Merit Scholarships won't make formal decisions until April, Sherron said. Until then, OAS plans on contacting potential recruits once a week by sending them personalized letters and trinkets such as pens, highlighters and magnets.
A scholars' weekend is planned for March. The OAS and Honors Program will offer backstage visits to the Spencer Museum of Art and the Lied Center to prospective recruits. Sherron said that even though the University maintained contact with students, there was no pressure to make a decision before April.
"We're not going to push a student to make a decision," Sherron said. "When students make college decisions, it's for a variety of reasons."
—Edited by Russell Davies
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