Board of Regents to determine tuition

By Justin Hilley

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Kansas Board of Regents will determine the future of the University’s four-year tuition freeze compact when it meets Thursday morning to vote on the University’s 2009-2010 tuition proposal.

A final decision on the tuition rates for each state university will be made at the meeting.

Kip Peterson, director of government relations and communications for the Regents, said the University’s proposal preserved the tuition compact for another year.

The proposal recommends a 4 percent tuition increase for seniors, graduate and transfer students. In addition, the plan promises no increase for students on the first and second years of the four-year tuition compact and a 6 percent increase to the compact rate for entering freshmen.

In March, the Regents proposed to Governor Kathleen Sebelius a one-year state university tuition freeze for Kansas residents, contingent on legislative adoption of the Governor’s 7 percent cut on higher education. But, a decline in the April state revenue forecast caused an additional 3 percent reduction, forcing the Regents to abandon its proposed tuition freeze.

In response to budget cuts, each state university submitted a tuition proposal.

Danny Anderson, vice provost for academic affairs and interim provost, said he would attend the Regents meeting with Chancellor Hemenway to answer any questions the Regents had.

If the proposal is approved, a four-year tuition freeze compact will be available for freshmen in the fall. Anderson said that the Regents supported the compact, but that if the financial model did not allow the University to guarantee the compact, the University would have to reconsider.

“If the Board of Regents were to decide that they wanted to lower tuition below what we have requested, we will do everything we can to keep the compact alive. It depends on the numbers in terms of, ‘Can we promise a tuition rate for four years if we can’t afford that rate?’” Anderson said.

Stephanie Bell, Leawood senior, said she thought the University should keep tuition as low as possible for all students, even if it meant no four-year tuition freeze for incoming freshmen.

“I understand that KU needs to be competitive, however, I don’t think I signed up for college knowing that my tuition was going to increase every year,” Bell said. “It is KU’s ultimate responsibility to take care of the students that they already have, not the ones that they want to get.”

Anderson said the University was doing its best to make education affordable during difficult financial times.

“Right now, 40 percent of KU undergraduates will have no tuition increase next year,” Anderson said. “We are looking at setting the new compact rate that would allow another 20 percent of KU students not to have any kind of a tuition increase for four years,”

Of the six universities that submitted a proposal, the University is the only one that has a tuition compact. Anderson said he thought the Regents would consider that and other specific University goals, such as its position as a leading research university, in its evaluation of the proposal.

— — Edited by Steph Schneider

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