A bill that would allow the University of Kansas to gain control of interest earnings on student tuition and fees has stalled in two legislative committees.

If the bill were approved, about $1.8 million would be split among the six regent schools.

The Board of Regents proposed the bill in the House Appropriations and the Senate Ways and Means Committees.

“There has not been much progress because the legislation has been hit with other budgetary issues like appropriating funding for K through 12,” said Katie Wolff, student senate legislative director.

Wolff said this was the first year the Board of Regents had made action to change the ownership of interest earnings.

Several committees need to approve the bill and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius needs to sign it before it can be put into effect.

Steve Munch, student body president, said he would like to see the bill pass, but he understood the holdup.

“There are a lot of other issues and concerns that need to be addressed so I imagine it’s easy for something like this to get overlooked,” Munch, Bellevue, Neb., junior, said.

He said the state kept the interest earned on students’ tuition and fees and allocated it to to various state agencies, such as road repairs.

“If we are paying tens of thousands of dollars for education, that’s what the money should go to benefit,” he said.

The money received from the interest would be applied to student fees such as those for the Kansas Memorial Unions, Student Recreation Fitness Center, and transportation.

Munch and Chancellor Robert Hemenway testified before the House Appropriations Committee on March 9 in favor of the bill.

The University and the other five Board of Regents universities are the only higher education institutions in Kansas that do not keep interest money generated from student tuition and fees.

“I hope that if it doesn’t happen this year, it will have been discussed enough to have a future,” Munch said.