photo by: Kansas Board of Regents Livestream

The Kansas Board of Regents heard tuition and fee proposals for the six state universities during its meeting on May 19.

The University of Kansas plans to hold tuition rates flat for the 2021-2022 academic year because of the negative effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on students and their families.

KU submitted its tuition and fee proposals to the Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday for a first reading, and the Regents will vote on the proposals in June.

According to KU’s proposal, undergraduate tuition would remain at $5,046 per semester for residents and $13,479.75 per semester for nonresidents. Tuition for resident graduate students would remain at $4,994.40 per semester, and tuition for nonresident graduate students would remain at $11,975.40 per semester.

“Given the extraordinary negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our students and their families, KU has taken the action of proposing no increase in tuition for our students,” KU’s proposal to the Regents says.

This is the third year in a row KU has proposed no increase in tuition for resident undergraduates and the second year KU has proposed no increase in tuition for nonresident undergraduates.

Kansas State University is the only Regents university that is proposing to increase its tuition for resident and nonresident undergraduates in the 2021-2022 academic year. The other five Regents universities all proposed to keep tuition flat. KU’s proposed tuition rates remain higher than those of the other five Regents universities.

Here’s how KU’s proposed semester tuition rates for resident undergraduates would compare with those of other Regents universities for the 2021-2022 academic year:

• University of Kansas: $5,046

• Kansas State University: $4,744

• Wichita State University: $3,421

• Emporia State University: $2,639

• Pittsburg State University: $2,918

• Fort Hays State University: $2,073

Despite no proposed tuition increase at KU, students on the Lawrence campus could see an increase in annual student fees in the amount of $62.30.

KU’s Student Senate is proposing to increase campus fees by $31.15 per semester, or 6.3%, for the 2021-2022 academic year. That would increase campus fees per semester from $491.95 to $523.10. The fee increases would primarily go to support Watkins Health Services ($10), the Kansas Memorial Union ($10.50), Sexuality & Gender Diversity programming ($2.90), Student Recreation and Fitness Center ($2.85), Counseling & Psychological Services ($2.05) and Student Senate Activity ($1.35).

Syed Hammad Hussain, an incoming senior at KU and chair of the finance committee for the Student Senate, explained that some of the fee increases were to raise wages for student workers to a minimum of $10. Hussain said a $10 minimum wage would help keep KU jobs comparable to job opportunities in Lawrence and would help students who are only permitted to work on-campus jobs earn a better wage.

Hussain also said that the money going toward Student Senate Activity would be split among about 50 student organizations and noted that it would not just go to the salaries of Student Senate members.

KU Chancellor Douglas Girod said he supported the campus fee increases.

“I would just add that the students did really keep this flat for a couple years as we’ve gone through this process, so some of these requests have actually been pushed back for years,” he said.

In other news from the meeting:

• The Regents approved KU’s request to create a Master of Arts in Organizational Communication at the Edwards Campus.

• The Regents approved the six state universities’ capital improvement requests for fiscal year 2023 and their five-year plans.

• The Regents approved the master plan for the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, which is run by KU.