In wake of state budget cuts, KU tuition proposal balances affordability, excellence

UPDATE: On June 19, 2013, the Kansas Board of Regents approved these rates for the 2013-14 academic year.

LAWRENCE — The same week the Kansas Legislature passed $13.5 million in cuts to the University of Kansas budget over the next two years, KU has proposed changes to tuition and fees that balance affordability with the need to maintain the excellence Kansans demand from their flagship university.

The proposed increases are among the lowest at Regents universities this year, and they will help KU improve its academic quality in relation to national peers, many of which are located in states making investments in higher education.

“We are competing with universities across the nation to recruit talented students and outstanding faculty. We also have a responsibility to provide an excellent and affordable education to students from Kansas. This proposal strikes that balance and enables us to continue our efforts to improve the quality of our students’ academic experiences,” Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said.

For the second year in a row, the proposed 4.4 percent increase in tuition and fees for new Kansas undergraduates is the lowest since 1999-2000. At the same time, 65 percent of returning undergraduates will have no tuition increase as a result of the Four-Year Tuition Compact, which guarantees first-time freshmen a fixed tuition rate for four years.

The university’s undergraduate tuition and fees remain in the lowest quartile of public universities in the Association of American Universities.

Increases at the KU Medical Center, which suffered the majority of the state budget cuts, will be larger, ranging from 5.32 percent to 7.64 percent. Even with the proposed tuition rates, cuts to programs and services will have to be made at KUMC within the restrictions placed on the institution by legislators.

Proposals at both campuses were made with direct student involvement, with students serving on the committees that proposed rates to Chancellor Gray-Little.

The full tuition proposal, which includes the rates for KU’s new online master’s degree in special education, is available online.