The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education has determined the feasibility of four new doctoral programs in the Commonwealth. Senate Joint Resolution 170 directed the CPE to meet with all comprehensive universities to discuss the needs of their service areas and determine which could support new graduate programs. The list was narrowed to an osteopathic program at EKU, Veterinary Medicine at Murray State, Doctor of Data Sciences at WKU, and a doctoral program in Agroecology at KSU. The council contracted Deloitte Consulting to analyze each program. Amy Wittmayer, the Specialist Leader for Deloitte, said only a few financial concerns were found in regard to EKU’s proposed Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine program.
“Many of the feasibility concerns here that we noted would be present at any higher Ed institution looking to start a D.O. program, not necessarily specific to EKU. Given the cost and the scale of this endeavor, high costs and high accreditation standards elevate the risk profile,” said Wittmayer.
SJR 170 highlighted three areas to observe for each university. Financial health, student success, and the research infrastructure of the institution. Murray State’s Doctoral College of Veterinary Medicine had no or few concerns in all three areas. Wittmayer added that students tend to do well at Murray.
“For student success, no or few concerns noted here either. Murray State student success metrics have consistently outperformed the averages of their Kentucky comprehensive peers. And Murray has performed better than or equivalent to other Kentucky public comprehensive institutions on eight of nine metrics tracked in the Kentucky performance funding model,” Wittmayer said.
Murray’s program was the only potential degree that scored well in all three areas. However, there were some feasibility concerns with the type of program being offered in their service region. House and Senate education committees will consider the findings during the 2025 session.