Washburn President details growth, manufacturing center and asks committee for $3.3 million operating grant increase

Washburn University President Julianne Mazachek told the House Committee on Higher Education Budget in Topeka that the university has seen sustained enrollment growth and is seeking a $3,300,000 increase in its municipal operating grant to support that growth and expanded student services.

Mazachek, who identified herself as the university president, briefed the committee on Washburn’s funding mix and recent uses of state and local dollars. She said Washburn is governed independently as a municipal public university and that roughly two-thirds of support for the university campus comes from a countywide local sales tax and student tuition, with the balance from the state operating grant, auxiliaries and other grants. “We are primarily a teaching undergraduate institution,” Mazachek said. She also described Washburn’s technical college, a long-standing law school and limited graduate programs.

The university described three priorities tied to the funding request: complete and open its new manufacturing education center, expand laboratory capacity to meet new general-education requirements and scale student-success programming targeted to first-generation and Pell-eligible students. Mazachek said the committee’s prior $3,000,000 grant helped Washburn purchase and repurpose a vacant former Kmart building in north Topeka for the manufacturing center, reducing the project’s expected cost by about $4,000,000; she said the overall project budget is now estimated at $12 million to $15 million and that construction work is expected to begin this summer with classes as soon as next spring or by next fall at the latest.

Mazachek said the Kansas comprehensive (need-based) grant helped Washburn distribute additional scholarship dollars to about 800 eligible students last year and that roughly 75% of Washburn students receive some form of aid. She emphasized the university’s focus on keeping student debt low and noted Washburn ranks among the lowest-debt public regional institutions in the Midwest. On campus facilities, she said Washburn will demolish Benton Hall this summer and renovate other spaces, and that Washburn Tech completed a second-floor renovation that will host classes beginning in the spring.

Committee members used a short question-and-answer period to clarify parts of the presentation. Vice Chair Sanders asked whether the $3,000,000 the committee previously awarded to Washburn was intended as recurring support; Mazachek replied that the $3,000,000 was a one-time capital investment specific to the manufacturing center and that Washburn is separately asking this year for the $3,300,000 municipal operating grant increase to support recurring operating needs associated with enrollment growth. Representative Haskins asked about an item listed in written materials for a $5,000,000 science-lab expansion; Mazachek said Washburn adopted the Kansas general-education requirements more broadly in recent years and needs to expand Stouffer Science Hall to provide lab sections for all students required to take a lab course.

Later in the committee’s consideration of the Kansas Board of Regents budget, Representative Haskins offered an amendment to increase Washburn University’s base municipal operating grant by $3,300,000. The amendment was seconded by Representative Amix and approved by voice vote. Committee minutes record the motion as carried; the committee did not provide a roll-call tally in the hearing transcript.

Mazachek closed by reiterating Washburn’s student-success focus and its workforce-aligned program growth (health care, business, forensics, legal education, cybersecurity and manufacturing), and said the university stands ready to answer further questions from the committee.

Ending: The committee advanced multiple adjustments to the Kansas Board of Regents budget later in the hearing; one of those actions restored the $3.3 million Washburn request to the university’s base operating grant, signaling committee support for Washburn’s near-term operating needs as the campus implements its manufacturing center and expanded student supports.