A proposal to freeze tuition at Kentucky Universities for four years failed to earn a motion in the Senate Education Committee Thursday. The bill’s sponsor says it may be a matter for a future legislative session.
Veteran Louisville Senator Dan Seum says tuition increases at the state’s public universities have far outpaced state funding cuts. He says since 2008, Kentucky has cut approximately $165 million from higher education, while the state’s universities have raised tuition by well over $500 million. During his testimony, Seum expressed concern regarding University of Kentucky salaries. “I want you to look at this," Seum said. "This is nine pages of people who work for University of Kentucky that make an excess of $250,000."
Following the meeting, UK President Eli Capilouto said most of those employees are involved in medical related jobs. “85 percent of that list were faculty; 95 percent are clinicians that work in our health system,” explained Capilouto.
Seum, meanwhile, says the measure may be dead for the current session but eventually, something must be done to address student debt. “Somewhere, sometime, as I said before, along the way we’re gonna be in a position where the degree is not worth the debt,” argued Seum.
Suem says cuts to university funding over the last several years are far less than revenue from tuition increases over the same period. Council on Postsecondary Education President Bob King says part of that is attributed to growing enrollments. “The increase in tuition revenue that you see is the consequence of 10,000 more students,” said King.
King says schools have also had to shift costs and pick up maintenance and operation expenses. He says inflation and increasing health insurance costs are also factors.
