photo by: Shawn Valverde/Special to the Journal-World

The University of Kansas campus is pictured in this September 2023 aerial photo.

University of Kansas students who get their health insurance through a special program overseen by the Kansas Board of Regents are expected to see their premiums rise slightly next school year.

The Board of Regents at its meeting on Wednesday is being asked to approve premium increases of a little more than 3% for the program, which provides health insurance to eligible graduate student, international students and students who are in a degree program where health insurance is required.

Student-only rates are expected to increase by $86 for the school year, while plans that also cover a spouse and multiple children are expected to increase by about $260 for a school year.

The Regents program also offers health insurance to other full-time students who don’t otherwise have insurance is expected to increased by $164 for a student-only plan. That plan — which has premiums about twice as high the other plans due to its elevated risk pool, does not offer coverage to a spouse or children of a student.

Regents staff members are recommending the higher rates, but the proposed rates did result in questions from at least one of the independent boards that review the proposed premiums. The Student Insurance Advisory Committee last month had several questions about the proposed increases, in part because early financial results for the plan show that it is performing much better than it did a year ago.

For the current school year, the plan has paid out about 38 cents in claims for every $1 in premiums that it has collected. That is far better than last school year when the plan paid out 70 cents in claims for every $1 collected.

Given that large improvement, the advisory committee questioned the proposed premium increases, but operators of the insurance plan noted that not all of the claims for the current school year have been processed or even submitted. After looking at more detailed data about prescription costs and other claims data, the advisory board ultimately recommended approval of the increased premium rates.

About 5,200 students at KU, K-State, Wichita State, Emporia State, Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State participate in the health insurance program.

In other business, Regents at their Wednesday meeting will consider approving:

• A $1 million increase in the price of a major repair to the system that powers the air conditioning system on KU’s Lawrence campus. KU is planning a large-scale renovation of the campus’ Chiller Building No. 1, which dates back to the early 1970s and was last improved in 1998. However, construction costs of the project have increased to $6 million, up from a previous $5 million estimate, due to inflation and additional equipment needs. If approved, the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

• The dates of Oct. 5-9, 2026 as the time period that prospective students can apply for free to any of the state’s public universities. The Regents are in the third and final year of a pilot program that has been testing whether free application days significantly changes the number and type of applicants the university receives.

The Regents meet at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday in Topeka at the Regents offices.