TOPEKA, Kan. — The two latest appointees to the Kansas Board of Regents want to intensify recruitment at public colleges and universities while strengthening opportunities for diverse populations of students to excel academically and prepare for jobs in the economy.
Overall enrollment has slumped during the past five years at 32 institutions under oversight of the Board of Regents, sliding to 165,000 in 2022 after sitting at 182,000 in 2017. Cumulative reductions during the period amounted to 15.5% at community colleges, 9.2% at technical colleges and 6% at state universities in Kansas.
“One of the biggest challenges is declining enrollment,” said Alysia Johnston, a former community college administrator nominated by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and endorsed by a Republican-led Senate confirmation committee. “We have to make sure that all Kansans understand the opportunities of higher education.”
Johnston, who was president of Fort Scott Community College for eight years, said universities and colleges in Kansas offered a wide range of four-year and two-year degrees as well as licensure and certificate programs leading to a better quality of life and a family-sustaining income. She said it was important the Board of Regents continued working toward a seamless education system for transfer students.
While Kansas higher education generally reflected national trends, there were exceptions in the past five years as enrollment grew 5.9% at Wichita State University. The Colby and Pratt community colleges also defied the declining-enrollment trend, as did three technical colleges in the state.
Fall semester 2023 enrollments won’t be released until September, but Emporia State University has projected a 5% decline in students. It’s unclear how tuition increases at state universities ranging from 5% to 7% could influence decisions of potential students.
Board of Regents nominee Neelima Parasker, founder and president of SnapIT Solutions in Overland Park, said the state was missing out on opportunities to work with youth on two-year and four-year degrees demanded in high-technology fields. She said Board of Regents institutions should make strides in welcoming adult learners who wanted to overhaul technical skills and fill gaps in the workforce.
“In the technology industry,” Parasker said, “we believe there is no end to learning.”
In Senate confirmation hearings where lawmakers offered bipartisan support for the governor’s nominees to the Board of Regents, Parasker and Johnston were asked about the influence of diversity, equity and inclusion programs on higher education.
Winfield Sen. Larry Alley, who serves as Senate majority leader and chairman of the confirmation committee, said there was concern about DEI initiatives on Board of Regents’ campuses. Alley and other GOP lawmakers in Kansas have sought to eliminate DEI at state universities, arguing they were part of a disruptive “woke” agenda that applied an ideological litmus test to students, faculty and administrators.
Parasker, who earned an engineering degree in India before immigrating to the United States and completing a master’s degree in computer science at Oklahoma City University, said Kansans should be afforded opportunities to advance their education without unnecessary impediments.
“It doesn’t matter what the color of skin,” she said. “If they have the potential and the drive to move forward as leaders, it becomes our responsibility to remove roadblocks.”
Johnston earned a bachelor’s degree at Kansas State University and a master’s degree at Pittsburg State University, and devoted 37 years to classroom instruction and administrative work at community colleges. She said two-year colleges had a capacity to provide learning opportunities to broad student populations, including first-generation college students with all sorts of backgrounds and influences.
“We do serve a lot of underserved populations,” Johnston said. “If our students are willing to put in the work and meet the challenges, then we are going to be there doing what we can to remove hurdles and make sure they’re successful.”
Johnston and Parasker said they grew up in families that instilled the importance of education. They also said they believed colleges and universities had to collaborate with business and industry in Kansas to prepare students to meet demands of the economy.
“We all need to work together to make sure we’re providing workforce training and supporting business and entrepreneurs through innovation and partnerships,” Johnston said.
If confirmed by the Kansas Senate during the 2024 legislative session, Parasker and Johnston would serve four-year terms on the Board of Regents ending in June 2027.
The nine-member Board of Regents has jurisdiction over 32 public higher education institutions. That included six state universities, 19 community colleges, six technical colleges and Washburn University, which is a municipal university and operates the state’s seventh technical school.