As word of coronavirus was starting to make headlines across the country in January, Emporia State was grappling with a budget shortfall ranging from $500,000 to $1.3 million. COVID-19 has not helped that situation at all.
Vice President of Administration and Finance Diana Kuhlmann updated KVOE News this week:
Technology and additional sanitation or cleaning are also factored in.
The COVID-19 total is on top of the prior shortfall.
Some federal stimulus money has arrived. Kuhlmann says about $1.7 million has been requested with another $1.7 million expected as part of the stimulus offset. Half of that will be direct emergency assistance for students.
Cuts in state support have hit ESU sporadically over the last decade and have combined with tuition shortfalls to cause cutbacks at ESU in 2003, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
Meanwhile, Flint Hills Technical College President Dean Hollenbeck says projections for COVID-19’s budget impact change frequently. He didn’t give KVOE News a total budget impact — in large part because enrollment won’t be finalized until this upcoming fall — but he mentioned several different line items that will be affected.
Hollenbeck also mentioned extra hardware costs as a concern. He says a sharp reduction in enrollment could mean a loss of several hundred thousand dollars, but at this time he expects enrollment could well be flat.
Like ESU, the college is looking ahead to the fall 2020 semester and planning for whether it will have normal operations or remote-only classwork. It will also receive federal stimulus money, but Hollenbeck hasn’t mentioned a dollar amount that could go to students or whether some will be set aside for operations. The college currently has no plans to furlough employees.
