photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Kansas Union on the University of Kansas campus is pictured on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022.

University students who rely on health insurance through a program run by the Kansas Board of Regents should prepare for about a 6.5% to 8.5% price increase, while some also will see a decline in benefits.

The Kansas Board of Regents will be asked Wednesday to approve new rates for an insurance program that is offered to students at the University of Kansas and other public universities in the state.

The new rates would increase the price of the most popular plan by $173 per year — or 6.5% — to a total of $2,831 for the year. Not all students are able to join that plan, however. It generally is limited to graduate students who also teach for the university, international students who are required to have health insurance, and students in some health and related majors who are required to have health insurance.

A safety net plan that is open to all university students is expected to see a $433 increase — or 8.5% — to a total premium of $5,431. The plan also will more than double the required deductible a student must meet, raising it to $2,500, up from $1,000 currently.

Deductible and benefit levels for the more popular plans are not scheduled to change.

About 6,600 university students across the state get their health insurance through the Regents program, although less than 150 students use the more expensive, safety net plan. A student insurance advisory committee earlier this year briefly considered eliminating the safety net program due to the low usage and rising costs. However, the group is recommending against elimination because members believe the program is a last resort for those students using it, since Kansas has not expanded its Medicaid program.

The new rates and other changes would be for the 2023-2024 school year, which begins in the fall. The Kansas Board of Regents will consider the changes at their 2 p.m. meeting on Wednesday in Topeka. Other topics of note on the board’s agenda include:

• Further discussion on how to reduce the shortage of teachers in the state, including ideas for plans such as paying student teachers and creating new, less restrictive processes for people to become licensed as teachers.

• Approval for Kansas State Athletics and the university to pursue up to $40 million in bond debt through the Kansas Development Finance Authority. The debt would help fund an $85 million project to build a new indoor football practice facility, and a new volleyball and Olympic sport training facility. It also would renovate the existing indoor football practice facility into a track venue. K-State is conducting private fundraising for the project, but wants to have the ability to issue up to $40 million in debt for the project for a period of 20 years. The athletic department at K-State currently has about $58 million in outstanding bonds on its books, according to information provided to the Regents.

• Approval for Emporia State University to ask the Kansas Legislature for up to $15 million in bond debt to help pay for a new home for Emporia State’s Department of Nursing and other student wellness activities. The Nursing Department currently is located off campus near the hospital in Emporia. This new project would house the department in a new building on campus.