A proposal of Gov. Sam Brownback’s in his State of the State message was for Kansas universities to find a way for students to earn a bachelor’s degree for the bargain-basement tuition cost of $15,000.
He asked the Legislature to earmark $1 million for the proposal.
A spokesman for the Board of Regents, Breeze Richardson, said then for such a program to work “it will have to be through a multi-institution response.”
Cowley County Community College in Arkansas City will try to develop a program that fits within the $15,000 limit. Cowley County’s plan is for students to complete two years of college courses while still in high school, and then transfer to Fort Hays State University, where tuition currently is $4,884.
Robbing higher ed funds for the last several years has beleaguered the financials at the 32 institutions within the Board of Regents’ decision-making venue. To deal with state budget shortfalls — fiscal year 2017’s stands at $320 million, and 2018’s is projected at $500 million — revenue for post-secondary schools has been cut $75 million the last three years.
We would look favorably on Brownback’s degree-on-the-cheap, if the devil can be removed from the details. Assuming tuition for four years of education could be limited to $15,000, a student also would have to think about room and board, books and other learning materials, and external forces such as inflation.
A start on the road to better days — for public and higher education, and much else — would be reconfiguration of the income tax code to begin recovering what has been lost through lower rates for those who bask in wealth and restoration of taxes for the 330,000 business and farm owners who have been exempted.
Another consideration, and one that should be front row center: The University of Kansas and Kansas State University, in particular, might be on the outside looking in if Brownback’s proposal finds legs. KU’s tuition is $10,550, K-State’s $9,874.
If we want to cultivate the finest minds with top-flight education (i.e., at research institutions such as KU and K-State), Brownback’s proposal might be a little cursory.
And, Brownback’s proposal isn’t altogether innovative. A similar program for nursing students has been around for 10 years in which the state provides $1.8 million a year for scholarships; 2,865 have graduated.
In sum, we applaud Brownback for having recognized that not every student who wants a college education can afford it.
Now, he needs to encourage, in specific terms, legislators to return fiscal sanity to Kansas and accept their decisions with the stroke of his pen.
Then, just maybe, his proposal could be expanded to make more sense educationally and to the advantage of Kansas as we race into a job market that is certain to be more technologically demanding than anything we have seen.
— Bob Johnson
Goal of $15,000 tuition prompts new matches
