TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — College students who lost class time or were forced into online classes because of the pandemic could have some of their tuition refunded under a measure Kansas lawmakers are debating.
A House panel amended the state’s higher education budget Wednesday to require that colleges, community colleges and technical schools reimburse students for 50% of the tuition paid every day they spent online instead of in the classroom. The amendment would reimburse at 100% for days that students missed class entirely.
The state’s Republican-leaning Legislature also has been pushing back against online learning in K-12 schools.
Another House committee has approved a measure that, if passed by the House and Senate, would allow parents of K-12 students with at least 120 consecutive hours of online instruction to use their state per-pupil funding on private schools through an education savings account.
Lawmakers have expressed concern that students are falling behind academically and suffering psychologically in online school.
“I’ve talked to many parents who tell me that their kids aren’t learning, that several of them watch their kids cheat on their final exams because they take it together,” said Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stillwell Republican who introduced the amendment.
Kansas colleges finished their spring semester online last March as the coronavirus began to spread. They’ve adjusted schedules and kept some courses online in an effort to limit new infections.
“It wasn’t something they by any means chose to do, it’s something they felt they had to do. It was a safety measure,” said Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat who teaches at the University of Kansas.
Using federal relief funds, colleges have already refunded students some fees for lost housing and food services.
Any further refunds would involve thousands of students and could further harm budgets. Higher education institutions already been been warning of cuts and layoffs. Though an exact cost is unknown, it would likely run into the millions, stretching a proposed budget that already assumes a 5.5% cut in higher education.
Rep. Brandon Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat, described the proposal as “reckless.”
Tarwater said he would coordinate with the Board of Regents, which governs the state’s colleges, before they are called before the committee in the coming weeks to testify on the issue.