Education

University leadership from around the state met with the Kansas Board of Regents today to discuss how to adjust to nearly $49 million in cuts from the state’s higher education budget.

The move was approved by lawmakers over the weekend, and include cuts to the state’s six universities in addition to community colleges, technical colleges and Washburn University. Cuts were also made to student financial assistance programs, the Board of Regents Office, and adult education programs Board Spokesperson Vanessa Lamoreaux said.

As the school year draws to a close and a new crop of students heads off to college this fall, the age-old challenge of paying for it is on the minds of many. But this year another group is taking up that challenge: Congress, and the President.

On July 1, the interest rate for federal education loans is going to increase from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent if Congress does not take action, which is where bill H.R. 1911 comes in.

This bill proposes tying the interest rate of education loans to the 10-year treasury note rate plus 2.5 percent.

The first Kansas legislative session since 1861 to extend into June is over.  But the budget plan passed early Sunday is a frustration for a number of agencies and institutions; one is the Kansas University Medical Center.

Officials aren’t yet sure what the new budget will mean; in a speech this spring, KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little worried about a projected cut and the wide reach, particularly on the university’s satellite operations.

It’s graduation season, and across the metro, high school valedictorians and senior speakers are putting the finishing touches on their commencement addresses. At DeLaSalle Education Center, Sandra Perez is excited, and a little nervous, to give the speech she wrote, which was selected out of the graduating class of 52 to be part of the commencement celebration.

“It’s a speech that’s going to be remembered at least by someone. I want it to be a speech that could impact at least one person,” says Sandra.

E pluribus unum—out of many is one—that’s was a founding principle for America.

Indeed, American language and culture shows the imprint of many different cultural influences.  But as the United States becomes more diverse, sometimes unity and understanding between different groups can become strained.

Have you ever wondered why a street is named the what it is?  Or what that one person did that immortalized their name onto our mailing address?  Some are fairly obvious, but many surprises abound when you start exploring.  History host Monroe Dodd invites David Boutros, the Assistant Director at State Historical Society of Missouri, Daniel Serda a teacher at the KU school of Architecture Design and Planning, and Matt Gilligan of the Johnson County Museum to explore our streets and just how they became know for what they are today.