Monday messages

Tuition Update

For the last five months, KU has been engaged in a dialogue about tuition.
Basically, the discussion has boiled down to five questions:

1.Should tuition increase?
2.If so, how much, and over what period of time?
3.Who should pay?
4.How should tuition be spent?
5.What principles should apply? (i.e., should 20% of an increase become financial aid?)

This all began in October, when the Board of Regents asked each of the six Regents Universities to prepare a five year tuition plan which would enable the universities to address the chronic problems of under funding for higher education in Kansas.

Today, for example, as a result of declining appropriations per student over the past 15 years, KU trails its peer institutions by $50 million.

Several scenarios have been put forward to close this gap. They have been discussed at length, but none of them has been "approved." At one extreme, resident undergraduate tuition would increase $576 per year over five years, or $2,880 in all. Another scenario would increase tuition $456 per year over five years ($2,280) and a third scenario would increase it $288 per year over five years ($1,440). Under each scenario, KU's tuition would remain below the national average for public universities.

Potential Uses

Enhanced tuition revenue is not expected to replace tax dollars in KU's budget. Rather, it would be used to improve the overall quality of the students' learning experience. I believe if students pay more, they ought to get more. Thus, we have proposed: Increased student financial aid; Higher wages for students and graduate teaching assistants; Larger research assistant stipends; Increased staff wages and benefits; Improved curricular opportunities for students; Improved library services and remote access to electronic resources; Expanded computer network capacity; Improved classrooms and laboratories; An efficient, online course registration system; and Funding for supplies, equipment and departmental operating expenses.

Information and Timeline

Internal presentations about tuition plans began in November, led by Provost David Shulenburger. Since then, more than a thousand faculty and students have attended the many meetings held in Lawrence, Kansas City, and at then Edwards campus. In addition, a website is available with the same information at www.tuition.ku.edu any hour of the day or night. If you have not attended one of the presentations, I encourage you to spend a few minutes reviewing the website. You can also provide feedback conveniently via e-mail at tuitiondialogue@ku.edu.

Another important source of campus input has been a committee of students, faculty, staff and administrators that was organized last month. This "Ad Hoc Committee on University Funding" meets in open session every Monday at 3 p.m. at the Kansas Union. You can provide comments to the committee by e-mailing the committee co-chair, student senator Dallas Rakestraw, at dholiday@ku.edu.

At the February 14 Regents meeting, the Board set a timetable for presentation of each university's tuition plan. We will introduce our formal proposal at the April 17-18 meeting. The Board will act on the proposals at the May 15-16 meeting.

State Support Needed

In an ideal world, we would not need to propose tuition increases of this magnitude. Even with the financial aid component, and even spread out over five years, I know that a significant tuition increase will pose a hardship for some students. At a time when the economic value of having college-educated citizens is so obvious, it is ironic that more of theburden for funding higher education is being placed on individual students--some of whom must resort to loans in order to enroll.

The need for additional resources, however, is clear. Measured against our peer institutions and other states in our region, students at KU are getting a high quality education despite an overall level of funding that is 80% of what students receive elsewhere. Frankly, that can't continue. The current level of quality for a KU degree is not sustainable without new resources. KU students deserve better.

Because the legislature may yet authorize additional appropriations for KU, it is too early to tell where we may end up. We will be pushing hard for increased state appropriations. However, at the present time, even underthe best proposal prepared by the Governor, KU would still suffer a 2.4% budget cut. Particularly hard hit is the Medical Center, where the cuts have greater impact because it enrolls fewer students.

Looking at the Future

On February 13, at Silver Lake Grade School, I joined four other university leaders in delivering a valentine to students and a message to the legislature concerning the importance of state funding for all levels of education in Kansas. You may have seen the picture of me standing on one foot to tell a story. It was fun visiting a room full of active six-year-olds, some of whom may be freshmen at KU in the fall of 2013.

I want those youngsters, and thousands like them across the state, to be able to attend college someday, and to be able to afford it without going deeply into debt. And I want them to find KU strong and vital when they come to Mount Oread. The quality of the education they receive must match their precious investment of time and talent.

To ensure their future, and the quality of what we do at KU, we need to adopt a wise, well-reasoned tuition increase plan for approval by the Board of Regents. At the same time, we must continue to make the case for well-funded public universities.

Relatively few voices are speaking up for higher education at this time. I hope all friends of KU will make their views known before the legislature adjourns.