KU News Release

Regents OK extending KU’s fixed-rate tuition compact

LAWRENCE — The Kansas Board of Regents today extended the University of Kansas’ groundbreaking Four-Year Tuition Compact to a second incoming freshman class and approved a modest increase to most other tuition rates.

The tuition compact, which was implemented last fall, gives incoming freshmen a tuition rate that remains fixed, with no increase, over four years.

Under the plan approved today, sophomores who entered the first tuition compact last fall will see no increase in tuition through the 2010-11 school year; incoming resident freshmen this fall will pay $229.25 per credit hour through the 2011-12 school year, or about $244 more a semester than 2007 compact freshmen. For incoming nonresident freshmen, the credit-hour rate will be $602.05, or $631 more a semester than the 2007 compact.

The 2008 freshman compact rate approved today is $2.20 a credit hour less than originally proposed last month, an amendment KU made in response to concerns about the economy and inflation.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway said parents and students under the first year of KU’s tuition compact have been overwhelmingly supportive of the plan because it protects them from sudden spikes in tuition. However, the university takes a risk in freezing the rate for four years, which no other public university in Kansas or the region does.

“We are concerned about the financial outlook for the state, especially in light of known cost increases we face in technology, energy, security systems, supplies and salaries,” Hemenway said. “But we want to do our part in holding the line on expenses. Our tuition plan shows we are ensuring to the people of Kansas that a first-rate college education will remain affordable.”

KU juniors, seniors, transfers and graduate students will see a 6 percent increase in tuition. For resident juniors, seniors or transfers, this means an additional $175.50 a semester for a student enrolled in 15 credit hours. Nonresident juniors, seniors and transfers taking 15 hours will pay an additional $460.50 a semester; resident graduate students, taking nine hours a semester, will see an increase of $130 a semester; nonresident graduates, taking nine hours a semester, will see an increase of $310 a semester. Resident medical school students will pay $11,861.40 a semester; nonresident medical school students, $21,035.10 a semester; both represent a 5.5 percent increase.

The KU plan the regents approved today stays within the range requested by the board earlier this spring, capping the standard tuition rate increase at 6 percent and the increase for medical students at 5.5 percent.

Course-fee increases also are set at 6 percent, with the exception of the schools of architecture and law, whose students requested additional fees to fund initiatives, and social welfare, which instituted course fees for the first time, also by student request. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which awards one-half of Lawrence campus degrees, does not assess course fees.

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