Access to Higher Education Task Force

The task force met once in person and twice via Zoom to discuss the university’s ability to enhance and expand our affiliation(s) in a manner that will significantly increase opportunities for all Kansans to have access to higher education. The focus for the taskforce was to explore the development of new programs, partnerships, new alliances and investing in systems to support the student experience. Given the wide array of professional experience represented on the task force, a decision was quickly made that the group’s charge was to determine the feasibility of future discussions on these topics and not whether any or all of these topics were/are viable. Moreover, members of the task force voiced reservations about being able to make any recommendations in isolation of the many initiatives being discussed on campus at present. Additionally, this taskforce began Pre-COVID and is ending as we make plans to re-integrate back to campus. The enrollment and economic conditions as a result of this pandemic makes this initiative more critical as we seek to remove barriers and provide opportunities for students.