Kaitlyn Alanis

For the fourth year in a row, Kansas State had a decrease in students enrolled in the spring semester compared to the spring before.

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According to K-State’s 20th-day enrollment statistics from the Office of the Registrar’s website, 22,048 students are enrolled at the university, which is a decrease of 587 students from the 22,635 students who were enrolled in spring 2016. This includes the Manhattan, Polytechnic, Olathe and Global campuses.

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K-State has faced state higher education budget cuts and internal callbacks, in part due to the decline in enrollment numbers. At least one college — Engineering — increased student fees as a direct response to the budget cuts and internal callbacks.

If you had a million dollars, what would you spend it on?

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Don Boggs, associate dean in the College of Agriculture, told the Tuition and Fees Strategies Committee during his fee review presentation that if Kansas State’s College of Agriculture had a million dollars, he would cut the $20 per-credit-hour fee students currently pay for agriculture classes.

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All colleges are expected to present a fee review to the committee every three years before a credit-hour fee renewal will be further considered.

Trent McGee, graduate student in counseling and student development, said he is concerned student fees have become permanent additions to the cost of attendance at K-State.

Student Governing Association officers do not serve for free. Each year, around $50,000 of student privilege fee dollars is used to compensate the students serving the Kansas State student body.

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According to SGA’s Joint Committee on Officers’ Compensation Report and Recommendations, in fiscal year 2016, a total of $57,184 was used to fund 13 student leaders. 

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In fiscal years 2014, 2015 and 2016, the student body president received scholarships and compensation equal to 100 percent of K-State’s in-state tuition rate, or $11,136 in 2016, according to the report.

Budget cuts of 2 and 3 percent may seem like a small cut for the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest college on Kansas State’s campus, which has a general use budget of around $64 million.

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Amit Chakrabarti, interim dean of the college, said this is simply not true and it does in fact hurt the college more so than others because of how big a reach the college has.

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“This college is the academic center of the university,” Chakrabarti said. “Every student that graduates from K-State will take at least a course in this college, so that’s our impact.”