Kansas college and university tuition likely to remain flat for third straight year
For the third straight year, Kansas college students may see their tuition stay the same or close to it..
Tuition proposals submitted to the Kansas Board of Regents Wednesday sought to keep college costs constant. The Board will vote to approve or reject those plans next month.
This follows two years of nearly flat rates at Kansas public universities.
In 2019, the board rejected requests from universities to increase tuition and fees, citing a need to make college more affordable for Kansas students.
The move halted decades of climbing tuition. In 2020 the University of Kansas and Kansas State University again held the line while other Board of Regents colleges approved increases of less than $100 per semester for in-state students and less than $300 for out-of-state students.
For 2021, most colleges proposed keeping existing costs while Kansas State University proposed a $57 increase for in-state students. Emporia State University proposed a nearly 30% cut to out-of-state tuition.
K-State increases, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Karen Good said, came as part of the university’s effort to simplify its tuition formula over the next two years.
This means in-state University of Kansas students will pay $5,046 and Kansas State University students will pay $4,744.50. Wichita State University’s in-state students will pay $3,421.35.
The tuition announcement comes despite concerns earlier this year about budget shortfalls due to the pandemic.
Federal funding may have played a role in keeping rates the same.
In last-minute budget maneuvers earlier this month, lawmakers granted public universities an additional $15 million in one-time money. The funding was meant to comply with federal guidelines so the state would receive its COVID-19 relief dollars. Colleges are anticipating influx of federal coronavirus relief.
The University of Kansas will receive $41 Million from the American Rescue Plan and K-State will receive 38.4 million.
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 12:29 PM.
