Kentucky State University takes seriously its charge to fulfill the aims and ambitions of the Commonwealth to provide continued evidence and outcomes commensurate with being the high performing small liberal arts institution envisioned in the original statutory charter. HB 303 enacted by the 2016 General Assembly, contained a provision that requires Kentucky State University to report its progress in attaining a defined set of goals and metrics related to student enrollment, academic persistence, and fiscal stability.

After a half-decade of stark enrollment declines and unpaid accounts receivables, Kentucky State University has emerged as a valuable “public, comprehensive, historically black land-grant university committed to advancing the Commonwealth of Kentucky, enhancing society, and impacting individuals by providing quality teaching with a foundation in liberal studies, scholarly research, and public service to enable productive lives within the diverse global economy”. Recent outcomes data on all indices confirm a mission-focused, fiscally conservative state institution rapidly transforming into a beacon of efficiency and effectiveness.

A focused and intentional shift in the operational culture is resulting in improved admission yields, academically ready undergraduate cohorts, increased retention, better than predicted persistence, higher tuition collections, reduced receivables, and fiscal ratios appropriate for credit-worthiness. The stabilization of student enrollment is punctuated by marked stability in the University's gross billable tuition and overall revenue receipts.

Kentucky State University has attained the student headcount and full-time equivalent enrollment to remain a viable and autonomous state-supported postsecondary institution. The enrollment and retention increases are noteworthy given the intentional attrition of prior cohort students who lacked the academic proficiency to be successful without a significant investment in unfunded academic and remedial supports. The campus community is transitioning to a community of scholars and practitioners preparing for the extant workforce.

The near flat operational expenditures coupled with increased fiscal revenues have enabled the campus to withstand a multi-year succession of reductions in the Commonwealth of Kentucky's appropriations. The loss in total public funding revenue has placed considerable stress on the campus' operating budget. Even more, the threat of a fiscal cliff pursuant to the proposed equilibrium of the postsecondary performance funding model threatens to upend the last three years of progress and drive the campus into draconian operations.

Kentucky State University has continued to implement cost containment strategies including staff reductions, elimination of vacant positions, reorganization of administrative and academic functions, and the elimination or renegotiation of contracts in an effort to provide evidence that the University merits continued economic investment by the Commonwealth. These actions, while difficult, have positioned Kentucky State University to function within its current revenue stream. Although enrollment has stabilized, the institution still requires additional state funding to guarantee academic success.