March 23, 2023 Story by Maggie Harris
Barton Community College announces new tuition rate for Kansas high school students
The Barton Community College Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve a new tuition and fees rate of $50 per credit hour for select high school audiences. Starting with the Fall 2023 semester high school students enrolling in face-to-face classes on the Barton County campus, at their high school, or through a Partnered Online partnership will qualify for the new rate.
Previously, high school students paid the same tuition rate as post-secondary students. This new rate is a significant step toward providing more accessible courses for high school students across the state. In addition to this rate change, Barton recently added a scholarship for Barton Online classes for Kansas high school students to bring the per credit hour cost down to $75.
Director of Early College Opportunities Karly Little said the new rate and online scholarship will allow more students to get ahead and take advantage of Barton’s early college opportunities including general education courses. High school students may be able to take the courses as dual credit, but she said students should check with their high school counselor to see whether the class would count on their high school transcript and how it could impact their class schedules.
“We hope it will help students make great progress on their college or career plans.”
In addition to the new credit hour rate and scholarship for online classes, some classes utilize low-cost (under $50) or no-cost textbooks, helping students in these classes save even more money. A state-approved list of career technical education (CTE) courses is still being offered at no tuition charged for high school students through a state program called Excel in CTE.
“Students can take individual classes or work toward earning an associate degree or certificate,” she said. “They can even mix and match with tuition-free Excel in CTE, general education, and other technical courses. Mixing and matching the rates helps reduce a student’s overall cost.”
