Topeka ? As expected, tuition will be on the rise this fall at the six Kansas universities.

For the third straight year, the Kansas Board of Regents blamed the Legislature for a lack of higher education funding, then approved the tuition increases, including an 18 percent increase at Kansas University.

“We have to act because the Legislature hasn’t acted for so long,” said Regent Deryl Wynn of Kansas City, Kan.

The regents rubber-stamped increases ranging from 8.9 percent at Fort Hays State University to KU’s 18 percent for full-time undergraduate students from Kansas.

“None of us want to vote for this,” said Regent Dick Bond of Overland Park. But he added, “It needs to happen because of the failure of adequate funding for higher education in Kansas.”

This year, legislators appropriated $706 million in general tax revenues for the higher education system for the 2004-05 academic year, $1.5 million more than they appropriated for the 2001-02 academic year. That’s not enough to cover higher operating costs, according to the regents.

This is the third straight year of approximately 20 percent tuition increases at KU.

But for many students, tuition is going up even more because four KU schools will charge students beyond the base tuition rate. The largest increase is at the KU School of Business, whose students will see an 82 percent increase next year.

Regents noted that there was documented student support for each of the tuition proposals, both across the state and among the KU schools.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway said the increases were necessary to maintain the quality at state universities.

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“Would it help if we just became a second-rate institution?” Hemenway said. “Certainly, the feelings we’ve gotten from the regents is that you want us to do everything possible to be a first-rate institution.”

Regent Donna Shank of Liberal said she was concerned that higher tuition would price middle-class students out of higher education. Wealthier students can afford tuition rates and financial aid is available to poorer students, she said.

KU has set aside 20 percent of its tuition increases for need-based financial aid, and officials say the demographics of the student body haven’t changed since the large tuition increases began.

Shank, whose daughter is a sophomore at KU, said she “struggled” with her decision on whether to vote for the increases.

“Do we continue to allow the (Legislature) to justify not approving funding increases when we’re so willing to increase tuition to make up the difference?” she asked.