Lexington, KY – Increased enrollment and tuition revenues from a large class of first year students at the University of Kentucky has staved off some of the planned budget cutbacks at the university.
Academic units that had anticipated a 4.2 percent cut in funding for next year will be cut 2.1 percent instead, according to a release from UK. Those areas have already seen a 3.3 percent cut in the current year.
A planned 6.4 percent cut for administration budgets for next year will be reduced to 5 percent. Those groups already saw a 5 percent cut this year.
The reduced budget cutting is due to $11.9 million more than expected in tuition this year, as the university welcomed its largest first year class. UK President Eli Capilouto hopes to continue the trend through retention of this class saying it is a "moral imperative in the fundamental mission we have to educate students and prepare them for lives of leadership, meaning and purpose, but also as a financial imperative in terms of this institution's long-term stability and aspirations."
Next year’s budget, according to the release, will contain tuition increases of no more than 3 percent while providing a 5 percent merit raise for employees.