Tag: higher education

Final Kansas budget locks in public university tuition freeze, but fee hikes are still on table

Kelly: $37.5 million budget hike sufficient to hold line on student tuition

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Lawrence — Kansas public university students uneasy about the cost of their education dodged a tuition hike this fall, but won’t know until mid-June whether they’ll be dinged with higher campus fees.

Maneuvering by the Legislature and governor on tuition added complexity to the task of pulling together university budgets for the fiscal year starting July 1. The Kansas Board of Regents are preparing to vote on what campus fees get elevated at the system’s six universities.

The $37.5 million allocated by the Legislature to universities governed by the Board of Regents, and Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a budget provision that would have allowed tuition increases, mean students wouldn’t pay more in tuition during the 2022-2023 school year. It would be the fourth consecutive year without a tuition rate adjustment at the University of Kansas following the 2.8% boost in 2019. The five other universities in the system have each adopted tuition increases twice in the past five years.

Cheryl Harrison-Lee, chairwoman of the Board of Regents, said affordability of higher education was a center piece on the system’s priority list. Status quo tuition rates and more need-based student financial aid will combine to improve student access to education, she said.

In January, Kelly and the Board of Regents requested a $45.7 million increase from the Legislature. The justification was a desire to restore funding cut in the past, acknowledge a projected inflation rate of 1.9% and initiate a 2% budget increase to put off higher tuition rates.

The budget adopted by the House and Senate was $8 million less than sought by the Board of Regents. To cover the gap, university administrators in Lawrence, Manhattan, Wichita, Emporia, Pittsburg and Hays drafted proposals for tuition increases ranging from 1.07% at KU to 3.07% at Fort Hays State University, which has the system’s lowest tuition. Officials at the other state universities in Kansas set their sights on tuition increases of 1% to 1.3%.

Those plans were withdrawn after Kelly line-item vetoed the budget proviso opening the door to higher tuition. Kelly said higher education in Kansas was on solid footing because the universities could expect to receive $1 billion in the new fiscal year.

“I believe that the regents institutions will be able to continue to hold tuition flat, making college more affordable for Kansans of all backgrounds. This is especially important if we, as a state, are going to provide the workforce needed to fully actualize the benefits and opportunities of our recent economic growth,” Kelly said.

KU chancellor Doug Girod said the governor’s rejection of the tuition-increase option left university officials no choice but to embrace a tuition freeze, but wouldn’t necessarily block changes to campus or academic fees.

He said Board of Regents universities were grateful for nearly securing their full budget request to the 2022 Legislature.

“It played out as well as we could have hoped,” Girod said. “We certainly are most grateful to the governor and the Legislature for the support they have passed our way.”

Ken Hush, interim president at Emporia State University, said the university had concluded after the legislative session ended that a 3% tuition increase would have been appropriate. That idea was trimmed to 1% before abandoned in response to the veto. A 1% increase in ESU tuition would equate to $221,000 in new revenue.

“We felt it was a good investment,” Hush said. “We embrace what’s happened.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/06/01/final-kansas-budget-locks-in-public-university-tuition-freeze-fee-hikes-still-on-table/

Kansas public universities caught in federal, state crossfire on COVID-19 vaccine mandate

Biden’s order compels inoculation of contractors; Kansas law may tie up funding

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — The president of the Kansas Board of Regents offered recommendations Friday to state universities receiving federal funding that must comply with a U.S. government mandate on COVID-19 vaccination of government contractors, including grant recipients, and adhere to a Kansas law withholding state funding from universities imposing inoculation directives.

Blake Flanders, who serves as president of the board responsible for public universities, community colleges and technical colleges, said each institution should consider implementing a process to comply with federal directives covering COVID-19 vaccines for contractor employees. In addition, the federal order would require masking and physical distancing in contractor workplaces, including visitors and students, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

President Joe Biden issued the executive order in September requiring all covered employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. He adopted a limited exemption if an employee was legally entitled to an accommodation. For existing contracts, covered contractor employees must be fully vaccinated no later than Dec. 8.

The issue comes to a head in Kansas because the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University receive millions of dollars annually in federal financial support for researcher under contract. The universities face deadlines for signing contracts and agreements tied to federal aid.

The state Board of Regents, which is appointed by the governor, hasn’t established a formal policy. The board isn’t scheduled to meet again until November.

“These were guidelines from me to the universities,” Flanders said in an interview. “The universities are seeking ways they can still meet the requirements of state law and continue with these federal contracts.”

The six state universities in Kansas have hundreds of contracts with federal agencies, such as NASA, the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Education and the National Science Foundation. There are subcontracts with large private companies that act as federal contractors. These contracts and subcontracts provide hundreds of millions of dollars to Kansas higher education and to the state of Kansas.

The Biden mandate must be incorporated into contracts awarded prior to Oct. 15 whenever that contract option or extension occurred. Through Nov. 14, federal agencies were to voluntarily include the COVID-19 clause into new contracts. Contracts set after Nov. 14 must feature the vaccination and other pandemic-related directives.

Flanders said the state universities in Kansas should draw from money outside the state budget to comply with the federal directive. That’s because Senate Bill 159, approved by the Kansas Legislature, prohibits state agencies from using money appropriated by the state to “require an individual to use a COVID-19 vaccination passport within this state for any purpose.”

Doug Girod, chancellor at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, said that KU would direct all KU employees to submit proof of a full vaccination for COVID-19 by Dec. 8.

“Because of the scope of the federal order, this mandate applies to all KU employees – including student employees – on all campuses and in all KU affiliates and auxiliaries, unless an employee applies for and receives a religious or medical exemption,” Girod said. “Employees who do not comply with the vaccine requirement are subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination from employment.”

He said federal contracts that funded research, employment and educational efforts were at risk if KU didn’t align with Biden’s executive order. He recommended unvaccinated employees seek their first vaccine dose immediately, because the process could take up to six weeks.

“For this reason,” the chancellor said, “we cannot be flexible with employees who choose not to comply with the vaccine requirement.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2021/10/22/kansas-public-universities-caught-in-federal-state-crossfire-on-covid-19-vaccine-mandate/.