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NEWS / WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
ADMINISTRATION
KU raises tuition to counter budget cuts
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
With state funding to the University taking a $42.9 million hit, the University is again looking to increase tuition for incoming resident students to $262.50 per credit hour, a seven percent increase over last year's compact. Non-resident students will also face a seven percent increase to $691.25 per credit hour.
With the proposed tuition package and the slight increase in campus fees, the University looks to produce $11.2 million in new revenue to counter a portion of its recent massive losses.
"We want to maintain the accessibility to a first-class college education, and though that is made much more difficult by the state budget cuts, this proposal strikes a good balance." Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said in a press release. "KU remains an absolute bargain nationally."
About 45 percent of Kansas undergraduates are bound under a four-year tuition compact and will see no increase in their tuition rates. With this year's incoming freshman class,
that number will jump to about 65 percent.
"I've been talking with our students, and they want us to balance the cost of college with their need to have an education that prepares them for successful lives," Gray-Little said.
in tuition with a typical 15-credit hour schedule.
"Our students know there are doors that only open with a college degree and have asked us to do everything we can to maintain the quality of the education they receive at KU."
All five of the other regents universities KansasState,Wichita State Fort Hays State, Pittsburg State and Emporia State are proposing tuition hikes as well.
Some students are upset about the increase, but say they understand the need to make up some of
Including required campus and course fees, an undergraduate Kansas resident will owe $4.012.50
the funding from whatever means are available.
"Forty-three million is a huge chunk." Spencer Glenn, a junior from Andover, said. "I'm sure they looked at all the options and figured that was the best way to make some of it back."
Glenn said his biggest issue with the tuition hike was that it would coincide with an increase in class sizes - another cost reduction method used by the University.
"I think with the prices that they are right now, they're pretty high," Glenn said. "it'd be one thing to if"
you were increasing the price and getting a smaller class size, but paying that kind of money to sit in a class with like 800 kids is just crazy."
In addition to the tuition increase, the University proposed a $10 per credit hour technology fee to directly fund new classroom technologies including an expanded wireless network.
"Students today have greater expectations when it comes to technology than students did just a few years ago." Interim Provost Danny Anderson said in a press release. "They expect wireless Internet and classrooms that allow for the full range of learning technologies to be used."
All five of the other regents universities - Kansas State, Wichita State, Fort Hays State, Pittsburg State and Emporia State - are proposing tuition hikes as well. Wichita State has proposed a 7.7 percent hike, while Kansas State's tuition will increase by only three percent to $3,538 under its proposed hike.
BUSES (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3)
summer classes are in session stop throughout campus and Lawrence. The number of students who depend on KU on Wheels is large enough that the buses need to run in the summer but small enough that many of the regular bus routes are unnecessary.
"The buses run every day of the week and some weekends to provide transportation for the students who do use KU on Wheels." Meier said.
Engelken said she was happy to have the option to ride the buses throughout the whole year.
"I'm glad that they do run in the summer because I have been depending on them to get to class since I've lived off campus," Engelken said, "I don't have to deal with trying to park on campus."
To see the summer bus routes, check out kansan.com/documents.