Thursday, May 6, 2010
With a $37 million budget shortfall, the University is searching for ways to generate revenue. Administrators say this is why students should expect another tuition hike in the fall.
“Our No. 1 responsibility is to provide the highest quality education, which, in some cases, requires raising prices,” said University spokeswoman Lynn Bretz.
Bretz said although the University’s tuition had increased every year since the early 1980s, this year students should expect a larger increase.
A tuition increase would not apply to current freshmen, sophomores or juniors — who are all protected by the University’s Four-Year Tuition Compact.
Incoming freshmen will also be put on a four-year tuition compact, but their rate could be higher than those in past years. Transfer students and students entering a fifth or higher year — who are not eligible for the compact — would see a tuition increase.
Even with a tuition increase, Bretz said, it’s highly unlikely that any student would be drastically affected.
“The University has worked very hard not to price students out of a KU degree,” Bretz said.
In attempts to best protect students from a tuition hike, the University is evaluating ways to save. Bretz said 55 staff and faculty positions have been eliminated from the Lawrence campus — the equivalent of three departments. Additionally, staff and faculty are facing an unprecedented second year in a row without salary increases. Administrators are also working to increase operating efficiencies of buildings and encouraging staff members to use less printer paper.
Though the University’s budget has been reduced back to its 2006 level, Bretz said the University was still doing comparatively well. The University’s tuition and fees rank fifth out of all the Big 12 schools, according to a 2009-2010 academic year report by the Board of Regents. Bretz said the majority of the $2 million awarded to KU from the federal stimulus package was put toward minimizing tuition increases.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said she wanted students to know their concerns about tuition would not go unaddressed. She is lobbying Gov. Mark Parkinson to stop additional cuts to the state’s colleges.
“We are asking legislators to consider alternative ways to save,” Gray-Little said.
Debate on the budget was put on hold in March. The University expects to hear the state’s final budget in mid-May. University administrators will then determine appropriate tuition rates, which they will pitch to the Regents May 19 and 20. The final tuition rate for students is expected to be announced during the Regents’ June session.
— Edited by Kate Larrabee
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