Mike Wellems likely will be seeing a hefty increase in his tuition rates next year — and he doesn’t mind much.

Wellems, like other Kansas University business students, would pay 82 percent more for the business classes he takes in the 2004-2005 academic year, under a proposal by KU.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t like to pay more,” said Wellems, a junior from Andover, Minn. “But I personally think it’ll be worth it in the end, and what they bring to the program will be beneficial.”

KU officials on Thursday will ask the Kansas Board of Regents for an 18 percent tuition increase across the university, the third large increase in a five-year plan.

Four schools — business, education, journalism and fine arts — are asking for additional increases for school-specific needs, commonly referred to as “differential tuition.” A fifth — the School of Engineering — already charges differential tuition and is asking for an increase in the amount charged.

Three other schools — law, pharmacy and architecture — already charge more than the base amount but are not asking for increases.

The largest proposed increase comes at the School of Business, which would add $75 to the base tuition amount of $138.75 per credit hour.

Bill Fuerst, the school’s dean, said he appointed a committee in the fall to study the school’s needs and costs for those needs.

The committee, which included students, faculty, staff and corporate advisers, recommended changes in three areas:

• Adding specific majors to the school.

Currently, the school offers only accounting and business administration majors. The committee recommended adding finance, marketing, management and information systems, to keep up with the offerings of similar universities.

Adding the majors will require nine new faculty positions.

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• Hiring additional staff in career services and advising.
• Devoting more money for scholarships and work opportunities.

Fuerst said the committee had given many presentations to student organizations and classes, and he said every business organization had written a letter supporting tuition increases to fund the needs.

He also said students should expect a return on their tuition investment because businesses want graduates who major in specific areas, instead of KU’s current generic majors.

Jessica Nelson, a student on the advisory committee, said she was convinced students had bought into the plan.

“The university has guaranteed this money will stay with the business school,” she said. “We’re not paying for some student to get a pharmacy degree. With universitywide increases, a lot of students think, ‘What have they done to help me? Maybe they put a new sign in front of the university or made some change in the School of Education. What do I care?'”

Other plans

Similar processes have been under way at the other three schools proposing differential tuition increases.

• $15 per credit hour in the School of Fine Arts would pay for facility renovations, staff positions and student services.
• $12 in the School of Journalism would be largely used for technology improvements.
• $15 in the School of Education will go to student scholarships and increasing pay to teachers who supervise student teachers.

The School of Engineering, which proposes to increase its fee from $15 to $30 per credit hour, also plans to use its money for student services, such as career advising.

If all proposals are approved, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Social Welfare will be the only academic entities that actually use the base tuition rate.

Universitywide student fees are scheduled to remain the same next year, at $287 per semester.

Higher ed debate

Discussions on a differential tuition rate for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the university’s largest entity, will begin this fall, said Kim Wilcox, the school’s dean.

He said the trend toward differential tuition was another step in the state’s policy of “tuition ownership,” which began in 1999 and allows universities to keep the tuition money they raise.

“That took those discussions (about budgets) out of the state Legislature and put it on campus,” Wilcox said. “The next step, I guess, is for those discussions to go on in individual schools.”

Christopher Morphew, an associate professor of education who studies higher education, said universities were moving toward differential tuition models because they were relying less on state support and many people believe educational costs differ among disciplines.

But he said the latter reason was an assumption, not a fact.

“There isn’t sound empirical evidence showing different degrees cost a certain amount more than other types of degrees,” he said.

He praised KU administrators for involving students in their differential tuition proposals. But he thought having different tuition amounts across the university could lead to confusion for students changing their majors.

“It partly comes down to student choice,” he said. “Do we really want students making decisions about their majors based on how much it costs?”

Fuerst, the business dean, said when state funding wasn’t allowing schools to meet their needs, they must turn to other methods of funding.

“I think we’re in a new model for higher education now,” he said. “Different schools will probably view that differently. Our constituents are the recruiting companies that hire our students, and they have expectations. We need to make sure we’re meeting those expectations.”

Year Three

The universitywide tuition increase, which will be voted on by regents in June, would generate about $8.6 million, which will be spent in a variety of ways. The largest amounts go to faculty salary increases ($2.9 million), graduate teaching assistant salary increases ($1 million), 22 new faculty positions ($2 million) and operating expense money for departments ($1.5 million).

KU is sticking to its five-year plan, which increases tuition by $16.50 per credit hour each year, plus a small adjustment for inflation.

“It’s really started to fall into, ‘Yeah, this is just year 3 of the plan,'” said Lindy Eakin, vice provost for administration and finance.

He said the increases had allowed KU to make progress toward being a top-25 university in a time when other schools are making budget cuts.

“You hope you look back in 10 or 15 years and say, ‘This was a defining moment. We were able to change the course of the university,'” Eakin said.