After years of flat tuition, Kansas universities are seeing 5% increases and more

Tuition will tentatively go up by 5% at most of Kansas’ state universities this fall, as inflation continues to put a strain on students’ ability to pay for higher education and colleges’ ability to keep operations expenses manageable.

The Kansas Board of Regents on Thursday heard a proposal that would increase the cost to attend the six state universities, and their affiliated campuses, in the 2023-24 school year.

More: Transferring between Kansas colleges and universities will soon be a lot easier

The increase request comes after years of flat tuition, particularly as students struggled with other COVID-era costs.

State universities last year had sought a 3% increase, but they were preemptively shut down after Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a budget provision that would have allowed the Regents to increase tuition.

University leaders told lawmakers earlier this spring to expect the increase, after "incredibly high inflation rates."

Kansas’ state universities are seeking 5% tuition increases for 2023-24

For in-state undergraduates, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University, as well as their affiliated campuses, are seeking tuition increases of 5%, as are Emporia State and Pittsburg State.

Wichita State and Fort Hays State are looking for increases of 5.9% and 7% respectively.

Coupled with mandatory campus fees, though, the increases vary slightly.

The proposed tuition amounts for full-time , in-state undergraduate students, including required fees, are as follows:

• University of Kansas (Lawrence campus) — $5,850 per semester.

• University of Kansas (Johnson County Edwards campus) — $6,282 per semester.

• KU Medical Center — $6,282 per semester.

• Kansas State University — $5,471 per semester.

• Kansas State University Aerospace and Technology Campus (Salina) — $4,940 per semester.

• Wichita State University — $4,661 per semester.

• Emporia State University — $3,673 per semester.

• Pittsburg State University — $4,078 per semester.

• Fort Hays State University — $2,817 per semester.

Gov. Laura Kelly, as part of her re-election efforts last fall, had campaigned on tuition freezes she had signed as part of prior years’ state budgets. The budget she signed this spring, however, was not enough by itself to cover the rising costs universities are seeing from inflation.

Kansas university tuition increases still won't cover inflation

The proposed tuition rates would help bring in millions of dollars in funding for the universities, per their estimates. At the University of Kansas alone, officials predict the 5% tuition increase would bring in $12.1 million in new tuition revenue.

Despite that revenue bump, University of Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod told the Regents the tuition increase would only cover a portion of KU's additional costs this year.

In the five years since KU last increased tuition, inflation has gone up over 20%, Girod said. Budget cuts have added up to over $42M over that time frame at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, and over $9 million at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

More: Over other universities' objections, Kansas Regents to let KU offer duplicate degree

"We don't come into this with the year standing alone," Girod said. "We're coming into this in a context of where we've been for the last four years. To really meet our increased costs going forward, we'd need to actually ask for a 6.7% increase on the Lawrence-Edwards campuses, and an 11.9% increase at the medical center, just to break even, if you will, coming into next year."

Despite the tuition increases, most of the state universities have made separate efforts to improve affordability for students, including expanded needs-based scholarship programs with increased dollar amounts and fewer eligibility requirements.

Washburn University, a municipal university that is administered separately and locally than the state universities, earlier in May announced a program that will pay any remaining tuition after scholarships and grants for students from low- to moderate-income families in Shawnee County.

Some of the universities, such as Emporia State and Pittsburg State, have also sought to reduce tuition for out-of-state students. While that decreases tuition revenue from current students, the universities are banking on increased interest from new out-of-state students to offset any financial losses, especially as Kansas sees fewer high school graduates pursuing four-year higher education.

Kansas Regents see need for modest university tuition increases

While the Regents did not vote on the proposals yet Wednesday, they appeared keen to eventually approve the tuition rate increases.

Regent Carl Ice, chair of the fiscal affairs and audit committee, said it had been evident in discussions with the university presidents and financial officials that a bigger tuition increase could likely have been justified. But the universities instead chose to keep increases as small as possible, while making cuts elsewhere.

The increases, although relatively large after years of no adjustments, are a good approach to keeping students, parents, legislators and Gov. Kelly, Regent Wint Winter said, while taking aggressive strategies to combat declining enrollment.

More: How can Kansas put students into teacher pipeline? Start with more money, task force says.

He said "you can't cut your way to greatness."

"None of us in Kansas are happy with mediocrity," Winter said. "We always want to get better. Clearly, the answer is 'No.' Just because we have fewer students in the system does not mean we're cutting. We're not going backwards. We are going to fund those initiatives we've already designed and have good evidence will work."

The Regents will vote on the tuition proposals at their June meeting.

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas universities seek tuition increase for 2023-24 school year