Answer: The answer to your questions comes from University of Kentucky Public Relations/Marketing Executive Director Jay Blanton:

 The main UK campus rests on about 690 acres here in Lexington. That’s the main, contiguous campus with all of our colleges, residence halls and physical plants. UK does have other land holdings, some farmland in central Kentucky and in western Kentucky. On that campus, we educate some 27,000 students and employ about 12,000 people, including nearly 2,000 faculty. So, in addition to the educational mission, we are clearly one of the economic drivers for this region and our Commonwealth.

 Our total budget for this current year is about $2 billion. The new fiscal year budget will be set in June and run from July to June 2008-2009. It is difficult to estimate the size of that budget now until the budgetary picture in Frankfort is clearer. However, we receive about $330 million in general fund appropriations for our annual operating budget. That’s where we pay for the bulk of salaries and academic programs on campus, so state support is vital. The state also mandates several programs, from rural health and extension to energy and geological research. More than half of our $2 billion budget is accounted for in revenues generated by the Chandler Hospital and/or is earmarked money such as research contracts from the federal government. The hospital receives very little in terms of state financial support. It is about a $700 million enterprise, which is and must be accounted for in the university’s overall budget.  The point is that we are a large place with a large budget, but the bulk of that budget is accounted for in things like health care through the hospital or designated contracts for research into things such as economic development and health care. They are not revenues, in other words, available to completely offset tuition or pay the salaries of most of our faculty and staff. 

In terms of public versus private (like a business, in other words), UK is the state’s land-grant, flagship institution of higher learning in Kentucky. It is a public institution, which has as its mission to educate, to teach and to serve the Commonwealth. The support we receive from the state and the people of the Commonwealth is vital to that mission.

Linda Niemi