By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western State University President Elizabeth Kennedy says the university had a good legislative session, especially with the funding allocated the St. Joseph campus.
Not only did Missouri Western receive a 3.7% increase to its core funding, it received $2.5 million to catch up on long delayed maintenance.
“From our perspective, it was a good year and we’re very grateful for all of the support we’ve been getting,” Kennedy tells St. Joseph Post.
The increase in the core budget for the St. Joseph campus adds $820,000 to the Missouri Western $81 million annual budget.
“A little bit less than we were looking for, but nonetheless we’re very grateful for that,” Kennedy says. “And that’s always a piece that we’ll be looking to increase. We’re headed into the fall. We need to see what our enrollment is, because we’re mostly tuition enrolment driven. But, overall, I think we’re starting to turn that corner and really headed in a good direction.”
The legislature also appropriated $644,000 to complete funding of the $1.8 million renovation of Scanlon Hall, a coed dorm used by the Kansas City Chiefs during training camp.
Kennedy says though the improvements Scanlon Hall were requested by the Chiefs, they will benefit the campus long after training camp wraps up.
“We have that project well underway and I’m looking forward to that,” Kennedy says. “It will be a good benefit for our students. They use it nine months of the year. So, it will be wonderful to have that upgrade.”
Kennedy says the university is on a good fiscal path, due to cost-saving measures implemented by the St. Joseph campus and extra allocations given the university by the legislature. She acknowledges it has taken a lot of work to right the university’s financial ship.
“We’re headed in the right direction,” according to Kennedy. “We ended up having a balanced budget this past fiscal year. We have a balanced budget going into the current fiscal year. Those are two things that have not been done for quite some time. So, based on where we are with our numbers, we’ve been conservative, we’ve been frugal, we’ve been very careful with our money. We’re looking to be in good shape.”