by Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Kansas News Service
The Kansas Board of Regents will vote Thursday on how much to hike tuition at state universities next year.
The six regent schools’ requests range between 2.5 and 3 percent, less than recent years. Wichita State University is requesting a 2.5 percent increase.
University of Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said during discussions Wednesday that the 2.5 percent increase her campus is asking for is barely above inflation.
“There was definitely a focus on making the tuition increase a modest one,” she said.
Some of the regents sounded skeptical as they deliberated, suggesting universities could do with less.
But K-State president Richard Myers said pay at his school is the lowest in the Big 12.
“We also have staff that are below 20 percent of the market, many of them not making a living wage, which is shameful,” he said.
K-State wants a 3 percent hike. Along with K-State, other universities say actual cost increases are more than what they propose charging students in higher tuition.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KMUW, Kansas Public Radio and KCUR covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
See more at kcur.org.