Wednesday, June 21, 2006
In an era when annual tuition increases have become the norm, college students are found asking themselves one common question: “Am I getting what I’m paying for out of my college education?”
Administrators at the University of Kansas would argue that the answer is “yes.”
The University’s five-year tuition enhancement plan will enter its last year this fall, assuming it receives approval from the Board of Regents this week. The plan was designed to raise tuition in order to provide students with amenities worthy of the “best buy” reputation that the University has recently received, such as improved technology and more faculty.
Elizabeth Spear, Kansas City, MO. senior, said that with some exceptions – like what she considers an unnecessary logo change – students are getting what they pay for.
“You get out of it what you put into it,” Spear said.
Prior to the inception of the five-year plan, the state provided the University with funding to make up for the difference between the school’s tuition revenue and the total expenses spent by the University, according to Theresa Klinkenberg, Chief Business & Financial Planning Officer of the University.
“State support was not growing as we had liked,” Klinkenberg said.
The state changed its funding model in 2001, using block grants and allowing the University to keep all of the money it generated from tuition, Klinkenberg said.
The University formed an ad hoc committee to devise a way to handle the new budget system. The University was considered under funded in comparison with schools in its peer group – schools considered of similar size and academic standing — to the tune of approximately $50 million, according to the committee. Schools in the group included the University of Colorado, the University of Oklahoma and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
According to the University’s Web site, “In April 2002, the committee recommended a plan to generate $43 million over five years for educational enhancements and $8.6 million in scholarships for students with unmet financial need as a result of the tuition increases on the Lawrence campus. The amount of the tuition enhancement is $16.50 per credit hour for each of five years.”
William L. Eakin, Vice Provost for Administration and Finance and assistant professor of history, said that during the first four years of the plan, the University hired approximately 70 faculty members, and authorized the hiring of 35 more this year. He also said that the University gave $5 million for technology each year, and $3 million for graduate teaching assistants’ salaries.
Faculty members are still unclear whether or not the Board of Regents will approve the fifth year.
Eakin said that one of the main reasons the Regents may not approve the plan was because non-resident students paid more tuition that those from Kansas, and so the $16.50 hike effects them less proportionally.
“We don’t want to appear to be giving non-residents a better deal,” Eakin said.
Not all students are excited about the rise in tuition.
“I think the amenities that are being improved don’t directly affect me as a student,” said Laura Musonye, Kenya senior.
Musonye said that she thinks the increase will be more beneficial to students in the future.
“I think the level of education is just the same,” she said.
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