The question can be extended more broadly to include the state taxpayer, the local taxpayer, the individual student and the student's family. These questions are not new and require a careful balance of state resources in such a way to ensure financial accessibility for our citizens. Financial issues in Kansas also include the various incentives which formulas or appropriation processes provide to individual institutions or sectors. One of the clear benefits of greater coordination would be a consolidated, coordinated state budget for higher education. For example, funding for research universities must be significantly different than funding for predominantly teaching institutions.
Community colleges require different funding than four-year universities.
Even community colleges may require differential funding. There are differences in the underlying costs among rural, suburban and urban community colleges. It may be more difficult to find competitively priced services or attract faculty to rural areas. Often rural institutions do not have the same economies of scales as would urban institutions. The mix of programs also create cost differentials and thus funding differences.