KBOR discusses 1 percent tuition increase, removing free speech zones

Administrators met Friday, March 16 to review what they heard during the Kansas Board of Regents meetings on March 14 at Pittsburg State University.

David Cordle, provost and chief of academic affairs, explained that his group discussed an unusual amount of new programs.

“Both are out of the school of business,” Cordle said. “One is the masters of information technology and then a related program, a bachelors in data analytics.”  

President Allison Garrett and Cordle also discussed “small tweaks” in the admission process.

“Instead of listing all the specific courses showing they have met the qualified admissions, students would now be able to verify that they have satisfied the unit requirements,” Cordle said. “This is much simpler for them.”

The last change Cordle spoke about was changing the G.P.A. requirements. In-state requirements would change to a 2.0 cumulative G.P.A. The out of state adjustment would bring the cumulative GPA down to 2.25.

The board is also discussing a 1 percent tuition increase in Kansas Public Universities.

“For us, that’s about $280,000,” said Diana Kuhlmann, vice president of administration and finance. “For KU or K-State you’re talking around a million.”

President Garrett also spoke about two other things that are making their way through the system in Topeka.

“Number one is an alternative to the performance based budget,” Garrett said. “The plea that the board of regents has made is to allow performance agreement to be the way higher education continues performance based budgeting.”

The second thing coming through the system is the removal of the free speech zones, which would broaden First Amendment rights on campus.

The next KBOR meeting will be next month, with administrators meeting in ESU’s Veteran’s Hall of Honor on April 20 to discuss what occurred.