are exposed to intensive academic support, including Supplemental Instruction, one-on-one advisement, and financial literacy workshops.
KSU receives funds from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture to support agricultural research (Evans-Allen Research Program) and extension programs. These funds are specifically designated for 1890 Land Grant institutions and require that the federal award be matched by the state on a one to one basis.
Section 1449 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 requires that “the State shall provide matching funds from non-Federal sources. Such matching funds shall be for an amount equal to not less than ... 100 percent of the formula [grant] funds to be distributed to the eligible institution for fiscal year 2007 and each year thereafter...”
Section 1449 also, defines non-federal sources as “funds made available to the eligible institution either through direct appropriation or any other authority (other than the authority to charge tuition and fees paid by students) provided by a State to an eligible institution to raise revenue, such as gift acceptance authority or user fees)…”
For KSU, the only source available for matching federal Land Grant funds is the direct state appropriation. Since 2008, the state appropriation to KSU has declined by approximately 15%. This, combined with increases in federal Land Grant awards, has left KSU under matched by approximately $3.36 million in fiscal year 2016. Declining enrollment and declining tuition revenue has also exacerbated this problem as the prior administration at KSU was forced to divert a portion of the state appropriation from the Land Grant match to the University's general operating budget. As a result, for FY 2016, KSU's match rate for federal Land Grant funds is 50.05%.
With this additional General Fund support for the Land Grant program, KSU can expand the KSU Center for Sustainability of Farms and Families. This Center was founded in 2012 with the goal to foster development, increase production diversification, and improve profitability of tobacco dependent small farms, as well as limited-resource farmers within the Commonwealth. Initial funding of the Center from the Agricultural Development Board has led to a highly successful mini-grant program for small farmers. Now the Center is poised to take its next step to help farmers and families with additional extension and research programs to serve the underserved around Kentucky in KSU's service area, as well as urban, rural, and SOAR areas of Kentucky unmet needs of the underserved.
The KSU Land Grant Program proposes to start new initiatives to serve the underserved through the Center for Sustainability of Farms and Families by the addition of the following research/extension/teaching units in:
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