Emporia State has proposed a 0 percent increase in both tuition and fees to the Kansas Board of Regents for the 2024-25 school year. If approved, the proposal would effectively result in a net decrease in tuition and fees for students.

In the original proposal made Wednesday, the University’s Tution and Fees Advisory Committee requested a 4 percent increase in tuition for undergraduate students, a 2 percent increase in tuition for graduate students, and a 17 percent reduction in campus activity fees. The reduction in campus activities would have off-set the tuition increase, resulting in an overall net reduction of 0.4 percent for tuition and fees. 

The University has since rescinded its request to increase tuition in favor of the proposed 0 percent increase amendment.

“The fee request will go down because we are able to remove the debt students were paying for the Memorial Union renovation project,” said Gwen Larson, Director of Media Relations at ESU. “We also are not passing along debt for our new nursing building because we were able to privately fund it rather than issuing bonds.”

According to Larson, keeping tuition flat to the 2023-24 rate and decreasing student fees will still create a net decrease in costs for ESU students. The total cost of tuition and fees for Kansas residents and those with in-state tuition for the 2023-24 school year was $3,640 per semester. 

“ESU wants to make higher education as affordable and accessible as possible for its students. As a result of these changes ESU will be able to lower the total cost students pay for their tuition and fees,” Larson said. 

ESU is the only regent school to rescind their original request and propose a 0 percent increase in tuition costs. Fort Hays State has proposed the highest tuition increase among all six regent schools at 6 percent. Wichita State has requested a 3.9 percent increase. 

KBOR will consider the regent school proposals at its June 20 board meeting. Exact numbers for the ESU’s amended proposal will be available after the consideration. 

“Our end goal is to reduce costs for students and to provide them with an extraordinary experience,” Larson said. “We will continue to provide our students with scholarship opportunities and eliminate fees like campus parking, application fees and more.”