Tuesday, March 24, 2009
In June 2007, the Kansas Board of Regents gave the University of Kansas permission to implement a tuition compact. The compact, which is now in its second year, gives incoming freshmen a locked-in tuition rate for four years. The Board of Regents has now approved a measure that would freeze tuition increases, a measure that would provide immediate financial relief to all KU students. However, the University administration contends that its Tuition Compact would not be sustainable if such a freeze were implemented. If the trade-off is indeed unavoidable, the University should scrap the compact, which benefits only traditional four-year students, and implement the freeze, which benefits every KU student.
If the legislature approves the freeze in tuition, it will provide financial relief for students and their families that is not provided by the tuition compact.
The tuition compact gives freshman students a guaranteed tuition cost by charging them the average estimated tuition cost for the first four years of their studies. Essentially, the tuition compact does not save students and their families money. It is beneficial because it helps them plan their projected college expenses.
Anna Spears, Dorrance sophomore and a transfer student, says the tuition compact is not fair to the students who do not qualify.
“The compact doesn’t help transfer students at all,” Spears said. “We don’t get to plan the cost of tuition.”
While the tuition compact was created to encourage students to come to the University for four years, it does not provide financial relief to students, or their families. The Regents proposal would provide material assistance to in-state students, including transfers.
In a press release from the Kansas Board of Regents on March 12, Donna Shank, chair of the board, said the plan “would help to keep higher education affordable in these tough economic times.” Shank said the tuition freeze would help students and their families keep more money in their pockets.
According to the Office of the University Registrar’s 20th Day Report for Spring 2009, 69 percent of KU students are Kansas residents. If the Legislature passes the Regents’ proposal, these students should have the opportunity to pay the standard tuition rate for the 2008-2009 academic year. Because the tuition compact assumes a 6 percent tuition rate increase per year, students would benefit much more from paying the standard tuition rate if the tuition freeze was implemented.
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Comments
Editorial: Proposed tuition freeze bests four-year compact
This is ridiculous. You're prioritizing a one year freeze on tuition over a tuition compact that would last years after this economic recession ends. Very short sided.
Editorial: Proposed tuition freeze bests four-year compact
Also: what number would they actually "freeze" on? Would it vary by when the student came in or would every student have to pay the same amount for tuition [because right now, we're all different depending on when we came in]? It doesn't make any sense.
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