By Ariana De La Garza:
With a recent budget cut of 8 million dollars that Kansas State University suffered this past July it has brought the university to a 34.8 percent fall in funding since 2007. While the increase in tuition for the fall semester may not seem as drastic to the ear as 8 million dollars it is still a large amount of money for students to pay. The increase in tuition for the fall semester was $130.67 for resident undergraduates enrolled for 15 credit hours and for out-of- state students an additional $316.51 for undergraduates in a full credit load.
Megan Irick, a Kansas native and a junior in animal science here at K-State was shocked when she heard about the budget cut.
“I pay for my schooling out of my own pocket and with the help of financial
aid. The price of getting a higher education is almost becoming unobtainable to
people like me that don’t have help from scholarships”, Irick said.
While many students may be struggling or frustrated over the recent budget
cuts and increase in tuition, other students seem to be feeling no affect of the
change and quit frankly unaware of the situation at hand.
Alhareth Altheeban, a senior at K-State majoring in civil engineering is here at
K-State from Jordan and was unaware of the recent budget cuts and tuition
increase.
“I am on scholarship from my home country so I did not know that this had
happened, but now that I know I am going to reach out to my scholarship advisors
and ask them questions to get a better understanding, and to know what a difference
it made to me”, Altheeban stated.
K-State explains that the revenue coming from the increase in tuition will help
finance the rising cost of utilities, professional awards, unfunded state benefit
mandates, faculty promotions, and targeted salary enhancements.
Cindy Bontrager, vice president for administration and finance, said. “We’re
going to continue to offer the best education, the best experience we can, but
[declining state funding] just erodes services.”
Nick Tafanelli, a Kansas native and recent K-State graduate in political
science talked about how he fells that our younger generation of people should really
be paying attention to the cuts the legislature is making and how it will affect us not
only while being a student at K-State but after as well as students are paying their
loans off.
“Back in November during the election I was very aware an attentive with how
I chose to vote for my state representatives. While budget cuts to state universities
was a large part in my decision making it was not the only thing I looked at and I
think that’s the case for anyone. It’s too bad to see funding being taken away and
students having to pay more to get an education”, Tafanelli explained.
Sen. Tom Hawk hopes that with steps taken during the 2017 session financial
stability will be more obtainable over the next couple years.
“I want to see the Legislature pick up a slightly higher percent of the
university’s budget so the university can hold tuition down or at least put more
resources into scholarships so students can afford to go [to K-State],” Hawk said.