WSU wants to raise student fees for campus improvements
Wichita State University wants to raise student fees to finance about $38 million worth of campus upgrades, including part of a new business school on the Innovation Campus.
And officials want students to get behind the campaign — which could be put to a student vote in March.
On Monday the university announced a plan to upgrade classrooms, libraries, theaters and other campus buildings. The effort could result in a student referendum that would double the campus infrastructure fee, from $6 to $12 per credit hour, for at least 20 years.
“While infrastructure improvements used to be covered, in large part, by state funding, that funding has shrunk big time,” says a document listing infrastructure priorities at WSU. “Now, remaining funding for these improvements must come from student fees — and that requires serious student support.”
The proposal comes as WSU prepares to issue bonds for construction of a new W. Frank Barton School of Business on its Innovation Campus. The university has raised about half of the projected $50 million cost of the new building from private sources.
Teri Hall, vice president of student affairs, said a committee made up of about 30 students and key administrators met for the first time last week.
“Part of it right now is the timing,” Hall said. “Because we’re going to need to take out a bond for the business school, it gives us an opportunity to take out a little bit more so that we can do some of these big improvements on campus that we wouldn’t necessarily have an opportunity for.”
The plan calls for the university to issue $38 million in bonds — $20 million for the new business school and $18 million for other campus renovations.
Proposed improvements include centralizing student services in Clinton Hall, the current home of the W. Frank Barton School of Business; updated classrooms and theater space in Wilner Auditorium; a larger 24-hour study room and additional technology at Ablah Library; new labs in Hubbard Hall; and renovated wind tunnel labs for the aerospace engineering program.
An average undergraduate student taking 15 credit hours at WSU currently pays about $782 per semester in student fees, not including tuition. The proposed increase would raise that by $90 per semester.
The last referendum to raise fees was in 2010, when students narrowly approved a $32 million improvement to the Rhatigan Student Center. That increase raised student fees by about $6 a semester for 20 years, Hall said.
The proposed referendum “is the best chance that we have for really making a difference on campus and improving the quality of the academic experience for our students,” Hall said.
“The state will not give any money to universities for buildings,” she said. “So while our budget does have a little bit of (capital improvement) money, it’s small pocket change, maybe a couple million a year — nothing like what we’re talking about.”
Kenon Brinkley, WSU’s student body president, would not say Monday whether he supports raising student fees by $6 a credit hour to fund the new business school and other improvements. He said he’s waiting to get more information and to hear what students think of the proposal.
“I agree with everything that on the list (of proposed improvements). It’s just a matter of figuring out if this is the best way to do it,” Brinkley said. “Maybe it is, maybe it is not. Maybe the students want it, maybe not.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2018 at 7:06 PM.