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<B>Report contradicts Murray State findings</B><P>
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<FONT SIZE=4><B>By Kathy Reding</B><BR></FONT>News Editor
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The Kentucky Council on Higher Education hopes a report delivered by a consultant yesterday will cease squabbling between UK and Murray State University regarding equality of student funding.<P>
Ronald Phipps of the Institute for Higher Education Policy presented his conclusions that funding for higher education is not inequitably apportioned, contrary to a report circulated in October by Murray State University president Kern Alexander. Alexander's report contended that UK received a larger share of state resources, among other points."I think as far as we're concerned, (Phipps' report) brings an end to the controversy," said Edward Carter, vice president for management and budget at UK.
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CHE contracted the study of Alexander's "Notes on Postsecondary and Higher Education in Kentucky" in November due to its use of "a number of nontraditional statistical comparison and data sources" and a request of Gov. Paul Patton, to whom Alexander originally submitted his 40-page study.
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UK President Charles Wethington said he also suggested an independent consultant be hired because he thought Alexander used a different means of arriving at his conclusions.
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"I think the outside consultant did an good job, obviously," Wethington said.
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General observations from Phipps said Alexander's report relied on "snapshot data" rather than "trend data." The findings stated data from the Southern Regional Education Board are most reliable for use by policy makers, data which Alexander does not incorporate into his funding comparison.
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"It's not the numbers so much, but the conclusions drawn from them," Carter said. "It's a lot more complicated to use them in analysis (than how Alexander used them)."
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Phipps' report also states Alexander's report presents "no data to support the conclusion that the present organizational structure for technical education and community colleges is ineffective an inefficient and, therefore, takes no position."
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However, the report findings do suggest some policy areas the state should address such as the quality of doctoral programs at UK, the ability of UK to attract research funds and low retention rates not only at UK but also at Kentucky's other public higher education institutions.
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Wethington said UK formed a committee in 1995 to study its doctoral programs and make recommendations for improvement and increasing the number of doctoral degrees awarded.
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Phipps reported that the state centers much research and service functions at UK, one reason for Alexander's differing data because he did not separate funding from that used for students.
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"The analysis of the Report (Alexander's) focused on only a limited number of functions performed at a university," the report presented to CHE today stated.
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Carter said this aspect of the report follows the opinion UK has held. He said UK receives money for the Chandler Medical Center and the Agriculture Experiment Station among other functions that must be subtracted from the funding total before it is divided among students.
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When the calculations are made this way, the same used by the Southern Region Educational Board, UK receives $4,469 per student from public funds while Murray receives $4,660 per student. These figures also compare to appropriations granted at benchmark schools as compared through SREB data.
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The reported presented to the council does suggest examining the question of "what is the proper balance between funding quality higher education to students and funding special purposes such as research, public service and agriculture?"
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Alexander was out of town and unavailable for comment.
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