The Kansas Board of Regent approved budget cuts to student line items and a combined increase of 2.26 percent to tuition and fees during last week’s meeting.
The proposal, which was submitted to KBOR, included all of the student line item allocations that were previously approved by Associated Student Government, according to Gwen Larson, assistant director of marketing and media relations, and Diana Kuhlmann, vice president of administration and finance.
Student line items receiving budget cuts include the Performing Arts Board, The Bulletin, “The Sunflower” yearbook, Sports Club and ASG.
The Performing Arts Board, which allocates funding to debate, theater and music groups on campus, including the ESU Marching Band, face the largest cut. The approved proposal cuts their budget by 33.5 percent. This year, PAB will get $15.85 from each full time student, whereas last year they received $23.85.
Student publications face the second largest cuts, with The Bulletin receiving a cut of 12 percent. This results in a budget decrease of approximately $10,000. “The Sunflower” is being cut by 4 percent.
Sports Club was cut by 17 percent, which means they will receive 50 cents from each full time student.
ASG, when they proposed the line item cuts in April, also decreased their budget. They will receive a 7.5 percent cut, which lowers the amount that they receive from each full time student to $14.80.
In addition to line item cuts, tuition will increase by 2.53 percent and fees will increase by 1.38 percent, which results in the combined increase of 2.26 percent for students taking 15 credit hours, according to the proposal submitted to KBOR.
This will cause an increase of $63.65 for undergraduate student tuition and an increase of $76.92 for resident graduate tuition.
Overall, tuition rates increased between 1.1 and 2.8 percent for all universities, besides Kansas State University Polytechnic, which did not have a tuition raise, according to a press release.
The overall fees for students are increasing, which includes technology and on campus activity fees.
Alone, the on campus activity fee will decrease by $7.07 per semester for full time students and $1.97 per credit hour for part time students. This is due to an increase in the athletic activity fee and the student line item fee decreases.
The athletic activity fee was increased by $4.00 per semester for full time undergraduate students and $0.26 per credit hour for part time students.
However, despite ASG’s cuts to line items, which decreased the on campus activity fees, fees are still increasing due to the increase of the technology fee. Technology fees are going up by $1.20 per credit hour, according to the tuition and fee proposal.
Additionally, students will also have increased fees if they enroll in specific classes, such as TH 333 Advanced Makeup Design and several Teachers College courses, and for other services, such as transcript fees and International Education Orientation, according to the proposed recommendation.
Students enrolled in business course will pay $12 per credit hour, which is a $9 increase, in order to help fund operations for the Biz Hornet Center, according to the proposal.
Editor Note: This story was updated to clarify and include additional fee information.
