Members of the Kansas Board of Regents Thursday criticized the cuts to higher education in a budget passed by the state Legislature.
The bill includes across-the-board reductions and millions of dollars more in cuts to funding for salaries. The amounts vary by institution, with Emporia State University cut by nearly 5 percent and the University of Kansas Medical Center cut by more than 4 percent.
Regent Fred Logan said the cuts to KU Med are too large to cover with tuition increases.
"The sloppy thinking of some legislators of ‘well, they’ll just increase tuition,’ they overlook the magnitude of the cuts,” Logan said.
KU Med officials told the Board of Regents that a 12 percent tuition increase would be necessary to completely offset the funding cut, but KU Med is only requesting a tuition increase of a bit more than 5 percent.
