FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) – Kentucky state auditor Mike Harmon announced he will launch a special review of Kentucky State University’s finances.

This comes after several bills are signed into law that gives the university a financial cushion and helps pay for the audit.

The school was recently awarded more than $20 million in this year’s legislative session. The money will cover the school’s budget shortfalls that lawmakers said have been coming for years.

The review will look at the university’s finances for the last 3 years starting July 1, 2018.

Back in July 2021, the state’s Council on Postsecondary Education was put in charge of assessing KSU’s financial status. The task was created after reports of financial instability and the abrupt resignation of then President Christopher Brown.  

That report, which was released in November, showed that the school’s finances were stable in years 2016 and 2017 with more than $18 million in cash reserves, but by 2019 that money dropped drastically to just $2 million.

The report cited several reasons for the huge decline in money, including failure to collect money from students.

CPE gave the legislature some recommendations on how to improve Kentucky State University’s financial health like improving debt collection processes.

Without that money awarded in this year’s session, the report states the university would have depleted all of its operating funds last month.

Now to make sure the university stays on track; Harmon is calling for a review of the university’s finances since 2018 to find out what went wrong and how the mishap can be avoided going forwarded.

In addition to the more than $20 million, state lawmakers also designated $200,000 in the state’s budget to help pay for the audit.

According to a letter sent to acting KSU President Clara Stamps, Harmon plans to kick off the audit process during the first part of this month.