What a tremendous irony it would be if the Kansas Board of Regents decides to take such a hard line on university tuition increases that Kansas University students who were given the special “guaranteed tuition” deal actually end up paying more for their education.

It’s great news that the regents are concerned enough to at least offer some tough talk on repeated tuition increases. Regent Gary Sherrer pointed out that tuition increases at state universities had exceeded both the consumer price index and the higher education price index in the last five years. And, during that time, he noted, the per-capita income of those paying tuition had been largely unchanged.

This is not news to Kansas families who are stretching their budgets to cover university tuition.

Despite the squeeze tuition is putting on Kansas families, university leaders continue to defend the increases. Kansas State University President Jon Wefald responded to the regents’ concern this week by saying, “You can either pay for access to mediocrity or you can pay for access to excellence. We’re choosing excellence.”

That’s fine, but rising tuition puts that choice out of reach for many Kansas students. Many are having to bypass that university “excellence” and make less costly choices such as attending a community college or a vocational-technical school.

Since more than doubling tuition for Kansas residents several years ago, KU officials have continued to sell the idea that KU still is “a bargain” compared to universities in other states. It also decided to address tuition concerns by developing a “guaranteed” tuition plan that entering freshmen were forced to accept this year.

The plan basically estimates the total tuition students would pay for a four-year degree – complete with projected tuition increases – then divides it by four to determine the “guaranteed” rate. Although this plan has been presented as a way to save money on tuition, it actually is just a way to force students to prepay tuition for a degree that they may or may not complete during the allotted time.

If tuition continues to rise and a student completes a degree in four years, the guaranteed tuition plan might actually result in a savings. If, however, regents put a cap on tuition increases, as they seemed to be suggesting this week they would do, students locked into a four-year payment plan that assumed ongoing increases might actually end up the losers.

Wefald and KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway said this week that the regents were asking “healthy questions” about tuition increases. It’s certainly time to ask those questions and to take some action to get state university tuition increases under control.