Cost to Feed the Gorilla Goes Up

From today’s JTBJ:

Pittsburg (Kan.) State University will raise its tuition for full-time, in-state undergraduate residents this fall.

Previously students take 12 credit hours or more paid a flat fee of $2,296 per semester. The Kansas Board of Regents approved the raise in rates of $108 per semester, plus a $20 raise in campus fees, bringing the new flat fee for full-time students to $2,424 per semester. Non-resident, full-time students will continue to pay $6,558 per semester. An additional $18 per credit hour distance fee is applied to continuing studies courses held an extended distance from the campus.

The Board of Regents also approved PSU's request to expand its Gorilla Advantage program to students in Benton and Washington counties in Arkansas. The program allows qualified students in border counties to attend PSU at in-state rates. Part of PSU's proposal to expand the program pointed to the large high schools in those counties, noting that they were much closer to PSU than some of the large feeder schools in the Kansas City, Wichita and Tulsa areas.

"We've always worked hard to keep tuition and fee increases to a minimum, especially in these economic times," said PSU president Steve Scott. "The result of that effort is that the cost of attending Pittsburg State, even with the approved increases, remains one of the lowest in the region while academic quality remains high."

Scott said the need to increase fees and tuition was driven by a number of factors, including an increase in costs for group health care. PSU also continues to try to make up a $5.1 million budget shortfall created by multiple cuts in state aid. While the tuition increase will help toward that end, the university has also slashed its operating budget, left a number of positions unfilled and turned to one-time reserves to close the gap. The Kansas legislature approved a revenue package this spring that helped stave off even steeper cuts, Scott said.