By Doug Graham
news@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — Full-time, in-state undergraduates at Pittsburg State University will pay $2,161 in tuition and required fees this fall, following a decision by the Kansas Board of Regents on Thursday.
That compares to $2,030 in the fall of 2007. That’s an across-the-board increase of 6.5 percent, or $131.
The tuition charge for PSU by itself went from $1,617 to $1,710, a difference of $93, or 5.8 percent. PSU offers one tuition rate for all students classified as full-time, taking more than 12 hours.
Required fees went from $413 to $451, a jump of $38, or a 9.2 percent. The higher fees will give students access to the new student recreation center that is set to open in the fall and the new student health center that is scheduled to break ground in the fall.
“I’d say that everybody was generally pretty happy with it,” said Eddie Penner, a PSU student and the president of the Student Government Association. He said the increase in tuition was “slightly lower” than it had been the past two years.
Penner joined PSU President Tom Bryant and Vice Presidents Steve Erwin and Steve Scott for the meeting in Topeka.
“You know, with the economy the way it is and the gas prices, and all those kinds of things, we had to try to keep that tuition increase down as much as we can. And to me, that still seems like it’s quite a lot,” Bryant said. “Certainly not as much as it has been in the past few years, but on the other hand, we didn’t receive as much from the state as we would have liked to.”
Bryant said about 60 percent of PSU’s funding comes from the state; the other 40 percent comes from students.
“At one time, the goal of a reasonable university was 75 percent state and 25 percent tuition,” Bryant said. “And you can see how much we’ve eroded from that.”
“For the past 10 years in Kansas, and nationwide, there’s been a real shift in how college is paid for,” Penner said.
Ryan Malle, a junior at PSU, said he was “totally down” for the fee increase for the student rec center.
“The Weede (PSU’s current recreation building) got so crowded it was pretty much worthless,” Malle said. “You had to go to the Y for everything. I’m glad there’s going to be a place just for students to go.”
Still, he has misgivings about the rise in tuition.
“That’s pretty big, considering the paycheck I get here from my job at the university is only about 200 bucks,” Malle said. “That’s a big chunk of it.”
Tuition hikes
Tuition increases over the past five years:
2004-05: 21.1 percent
2005-06: 12 percent
2006-07: 8.2 percent
2007-08: 6.7 percent
2008-09: 5.8 percent
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