Tuition increase planned for next year

For college students across the state, tuition cost is by far the largest part of the expense of going to college, and today the Kansas Board of Regents announced that expense will increase with next year’s rates will going up at every Regent university, but at a lower level than any time in the previous decade.

“The Kansas Board of Regents approved tuition proposals from the six state universities for the upcoming 2014-2015 academic year. The newly-established resident undergraduate rate for tuition & required fees range from a 2.5% increase at Fort Hays State University to a 5.7% increase at Kansas State University-Salina,” according to an announcement from the Regents.

While the increase has been deemed necessary by the Regents, the increase is as low as it could have been.

“These approved tuition rates represent the lowest overall tuition increases in 13 years,” said Kansas Board of Regents Chairman Fred Logan.

“With $6.5 million of revenue for this next year coming from reallocation savings, universities are working hard to operate as efficiently as possible and keep tuition increases minimal,” said Regent Kenny Wilk, who will set into the chairmanship of the Regents next year.

This chart below shows the increases at each Regent university

“We are pleased with these revised proposals, which reflect tuition increases near inflation levels and are understandable given the challenges we will face to gain additional state resources in this upcoming legislative session” said Regent Shane Bangerter, incoming Vice-Chair of the Board.

While the Regents have to consider the entire system, the approach to each university’s tuition is different.

“The Board does not use a “one-size-fits-all” approach, rather, the current philosophy is to set tuition and fees independently for each state university. This is to ensure tuition rates reflect each university’s own unique niche – differing missions, program offerings, geographic locations, and competitive environments,” according to a statement released by the Regents.

Complete tuition proposals are available here.