Each year for the last three years, the University of Kansas has raised tuition. The administration now seeks a fourth year of increase.

The proposed increase came last May, as the fourth installment of the University’s five-year tuition plan, said Lynn Bretz, director of University Relations.

A decline in state funding during the past 15 years forced the Board of Regents, the governing board for all state sponsored schools, to ask the universities to come up with five-year plans to increase tuition.

The University will know the Regents’ decision regarding the proposal by June 22 or 23.

According to the University’s Web site, tuition.ku.edu, tuition would rise to $22.05 an hour for Kansas resident undergraduate students, and $38.65 an hour for nonresident undergraduate students.

With the increase in tuition, the average 15-hour semester for a resident would rise to $2,706, up from $2,368 the past year, approximately a 16 percent increase. Nonresident tuition would be $6,932, up from $6,346 the past year, approximately a 10 percent increase.

The estimated total for a resident student, including room and board and other expenses, for one year would be $15,256.

That would leave students with loans in debt more than $60,000, assuming they graduate in four years.

Fees will also go up $7.50, bringing the total required fees to $294.50.

Graduate students will also feel the squeeze on their wallets. Costs for a resident graduate student would be $23.65, an approximate 13 percent increase. For a nonresident graduate student it would cost $40.90, an approximate nine percent increase.

The cost of tuition for resident graduate students would be raised by $291, and nonresident tuition would go up $499.

Cameron Monken

Although the increase could mean less money for students, some students understand that increases have to be made.

“It’s too bad, but they have to have money to operate,” Sarah Arbuthnot, Belleville graduate student, said.

Arbuthnot also pointed out that paying may be a little easier for her because she worked for the University and received a discount rate for her credit hours.

With the last increase the University gained an extra $16 million, splitting the money into three separate categories.

The first category, which received $1.7 million, was student financial aid. The University has been able to offer financial help to students it could not have offered three years ago, Bretz said.

The University has given financial assistance to 4,200 students this year alone, Bretz said. She said this assistance allowed the University to retain much of its socioeconomic makeup.

More than $8 million went into what the University calls tuition enhancement. The money was spent on new faculty, a raise for current faculty, a raise for GTAs, money for the libraries and raises for some non-faculty employees.

The last category, maintenance costs, received $5.7 million for maintenance of buildings and grounds on campus.

Although the increases mean students will spend more, they get to see the benefits of it, Bretz said.