The cost of attending college in Kansas continues to rise.
The Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday approved tuition rate increases at five of the state’s six universities, ranging from 3.5% at Pittsburg State University to 6% at Fort Hays State University.
Elaine Frisbie, vice president of finance and administration for KBOR, told Regents that universities are raising tuition to make up for rising costs and state budget cuts.
“They are balancing the legislative budget cuts while keeping an eye and sensitivity over imposing higher costs on their students,” she said, “and maintaining their cost-competitiveness with their peers and their neighboring institutions.”
Colleges are also beginning to feel the effects of the so-called “enrollment cliff” — as people are having fewer kids, there are fewer students enrolling in schools at all levels.
Starting this fall, the average cost of tuition and fees for a Kansas undergraduate student attending a state university full-time will be about $9,700 per year, according to data from KBOR.
That doesn’t include expenses like housing and books, the prices of which are also on the rise.
While Fort Hays State requested the largest percentage increase this year, it and Emporia State University’s tuition rates will remain notably lower than other universities in the state.
By dollar amount, the University of Kansas requested the largest tuition increase at $271.50 per semester.
Tuition varies greatly across each of the six universities. For example, under the new rates, a full-time resident student would pay about $13,270 per year in tuition and fees at KU, but only about $6,475 per year at Fort Hays State.
Between the 2016 and 2026 academic years, tuition alone for full-time residents at each state university rose by an average of about 26.6%, according to data from KBOR.
Fort Hays State had the highest percentage increase across that timeframe at around 37%, but again, the dollar amount for its tuition has remained lower than its peers.
| University | Tuition per semester ('26-'27) | One-year increase | 10-year increase (2016 to 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
SOURCE: Kansas Board of Regents
Kansas briefly froze tuition rates during the pandemic.
Emporia State was the only state university not to request a tuition rate increase in the coming academic year.
Emporia State President Matt Baker said keeping the rate flat will help the school recruit more students.
“One of the things that allows us the comfort in doing that is our enrollment pipelines are looking very strong for next year,” he told Regents.
It’s the fourth year in a row that the school has not requested an increase, giving it the lowest 10-year percentage increase of any state university in Kansas at 19.4%.
