Kansas State University is moving to a simplified and streamlined tuition structure for the 2021-2022 academic year. The new structure, recently approved by the Kansas Board of Regents, goes into effect this fall.

In building this new tuition and fees structure, a key goal was making it easier for students to determine cost of attendance. The new structure provides students with more flexibility to take courses in different formats throughout their time at the university.

Here are highlights from the new structure:

• The Global Campus course fee, previously assessed on all courses taken online, has been eliminated.

• The summer/intersession fees have also been eliminated, as has the Olathe campus fee.

• The new tuition and fees structure charges by program type — campus-based or online — versus by individual course delivery format, offering students more flexibility to choose the course format that works best for them.

• The Manhattan campus academic infrastructure fee has been merged into the base tuition rate.

• Some course fees have also been merged into the existing college/departmental course fee structure, making a tuition bill easier to understand.

• Finally, the Campus Privilege Fee has been reduced and renamed at the Manhattan and Polytechnic campuses. The fee’s new name, the Student Services Fee, better reflects what students gain from the fee assessment on these campuses.

This new tuition and fees structure is based on a redistribution of historical tuition and fees rates. There is no increased pricing to cover higher operating costs, and no new fees are being introduced.

Marvin Hachmeister '56, '61 arrived at Kansas State University’s Ahearn Field House at 6:30 a.m., when the track was still empty, on March 9. It was his 90th birthday, and he was setting out to run 90 laps of the indoor track.

If this sounds unusual to you, it’s not for Hachmeister; in fact, this is far from the first time that Hachmeister has spent several hours running on his birthday. In 1981, when he turned 50, a crew of track and cross-country kids at the school he taught at bet Hachmeister that he couldn’t run 50 laps around a 200-meter track. He did it that year and has continued running his age in laps on his birthday every year since.

“I just keeping adding a lap every year,” Hachmeister told Runner’s World. “That’s what I’ve been up to these days.”

Hachmeister started running in high school in 1946. He picked up longer distances starting in 1979; a blood test revealed his blood was low on oxygen, and exercise was suggested. Now, Hachmeister runs six days a week, mostly with his Australian cattle dog. Also, he lives on a farm, and still does quite a bit of farm work on top of his running.

After years as a high school shop and manual labor teacher, he took another job at to Kansas State University, where he became close with the track and cross-country team. The runners occasionally join him for laps on the track.

“I used to be able to talk more when running, but as I get a little older, I use every breath of oxygen up,” Hachmeister said. “I’ve got a few guys who run regularly with me, not this year, but used to. I used to tell them if they wore headphones, I couldn’t talk to them. Now, I don’t care because I need to breathe harder.”

For four decades now, Hachmeister has gathered friends to join him for his annual birthday run. The people he has met through running are the reason he keeps going, which is why his two most recent birthday runs have been difficult.

“I really like going to races, and runners, as a whole, are jolly-good people,” Hachmeister said. “I really like the social part because of things like I was by myself after my wife passed away in 2012. A person has to be careful. They can sit back and go into depression or something. The social aspect of running helped me a lot.”

In 2020, he was 48 laps into his run when staff cleared out the field house because the school was shutting down due to the pandemic, and he was forced to abandon his run.

This year, Hachmeister, who is fully vaccinated, tackled most of his run alone, though some of the K-State cross-country runners joined him for the first few laps as they began practice. Hachmeister ran three miles before stopping for a drink and to switch directions. He finished his 11.85-mile journey in about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

“I’m glad I got it done again this year,” he said. “I would like to make it being able to do a 5K at 95. I’ll just have to see. I’m in pretty good health and don’t have any health problems that I know of. I’m always gonna keep going if I can.”

— This article first appeared on runnersworld.com and was used with permission.

In May, Marcus Gladdis '09 was honored by the Kansas City Royals and Bally Sports Kansas City with the opportunity to watch a game in Kauffman Stadium in the Buck O’Neil Legacy seat. The seat is one of the greatest Kansas City honors for individuals impacting the community. 

“I didn't know how big of a deal it was until afterwards,” Gladdis said. “And I started to hear from people I hadn't worked with in 10 years, saying they were at the game and watched the game online and then my parents were getting calls and people were sending pictures of the game and things like that. So it was really special for me to be able to see other people enjoy it as much as I did. But for my parents and my family to be able to see it and have people call and tell them how important it was, it's kind of been the biggest thing for me.” 

How did he earn that seat? Through a love of community outreach and volunteerism.  

Gladdis is the founder of the Start with Wy Foundation. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on assisting the next generation with tools for success including transitioning out of high school into college and/or fields of work. The foundation is well known for its annual Easter Egg Hunt, which provides families with a free activity and prizes for the children who attend. Additionally, the foundation assists with community holiday grocery giveaways, back to school ice cream socials and is developing an annual health fair.  

“We want it to be able to give our community an opportunity to be at the table to understand the resources that are available, create new resources, and make sure that everybody has the opportunity to be on an even playing field,” he said. 

Gladdis said starting small and building momentum has been successful for Start With Wy. When the foundation started their annual Easter Egg Hunt the first one only had 5,000 eggs. In 2019, the hunt had more than 10,000 eggs with 500 children in attendance. They additionally gave away eight bikes and other prizes.

“A lot of the things that we do are community and family funded, so we don't have a lot of big corporate sponsors to go make things happen,” he said. “It's really people in the community that have the same goals and ideas and making the community a little bit better than what it was when we were growing up, is really how we're driven.”

Gladdis said he intends to grow the foundation to allow for more community welfare and scholarships.

“If we can help people get to that next level to where they can be a little bit more successful or even understand the different metrics of success, that’s our goal,” he said. “There's a vast amount of ways that people can be successful in their own lives.”

Additionally, Gladdis volunteers as a scholarship reviewer for the KC Scholars Program, which exists to provide access to low income students within the Kansas City area to attend college through the Kauffman Foundation.  

Gladdis said he found his love of volunteering while a student at Kansas State University. Through his fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, he got his first real taste of volunteerism. Each year the Sigmas host a sleep out for the homeless in Bosco Student Plaza. They also volunteer for the Special Olympics.

“It really drove home the importance of the community, and then actually going back into my community, it made it a lot easier,” he said.

Gladdis said he typically spends about one or two hours a day thinking, strategizing or working on some form of volunteer work. He acknowledges it isn’t always easy to volunteer, especially when you have a 9-to-5 job. He is a full-time senior program manager for Cerner. His advice to anyone looking to get started in volunteering is to start small.

“One of the big things that people have a misconception of is that you have to go big first,” Gladdis said. “There are so many organizations that are already created and established and took off, that you can go to be a part of. Start small, so find something that you care about. Your care has kind of become your purpose and your passion with purpose drives your passion.”

Open to all K-State fans ages 2 to 12, Junior Wildcats Club members experience the fun and excitement of the K-State Wildcats through exclusive club events and annual membership benefits including once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and special offers.

The Junior Wildcats Club is presented by Briggs Auto and is a program of K-State Athletics and the K-State Alumni Association. Cost is $20 for Ahearn Fund/Alumni Association members (regularly $25). 

Junior Wildcats Club is one of the many ways the K-State Alumni Association spreads purple pride to the youngest Wildcats in the K-State family (learn more about all our programs for future Wildcats). We hope to see you at some of our Junior Wildcats Club events this upcoming season! 

Membership Benefits:

• Membership kit which includes membership card with lanyard, official Junior Wildcats Club shirt and a limited edition Junior Wildcats Club gift
• FREE admission to home women's basketball, volleyball, soccer and baseball regular-season games^
• Special ticket offers to select home games for football and men's basketball^
• Exclusive pregame events
• Opportunity to attend a Fantasy Day experience in the spring*
• Exclusive Holiday Clinic with the men's basketball team*
• Birthday card
• Seasonal newsletter
• Special ticket offers to select volleyball, soccer, women's basketball and baseball games for family and friends of Junior Wildcats (while supplies last)
• Discounted Willie the Wildcat appearances
• 10% off bowling and birthday parties at the K-State Student Union

^ - Free admission to home events and special ticket offers are subject to availability.
* - Events may be limited due to NCAA student-athlete schedule restrictions and health and safety protocols. Additional fees may apply for club events including Fantasy Day. All events subject to change.

Sign up now

Former K-State great and 11-year NFL veteran Jordy Nelson '07 will be joined by some of his former teammates as well as other fellow Wildcat legends for a fun-filled weekend, as he hosts the inaugural Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game presented by Peoples State Bank on Sunday, Sept. 12, inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Held in conjunction with the Wildcats' home opener against Southern Illinois on Sept. 11, the Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game will feature several K-State legends, including Kevin Lockett '96, David Allen '01, '11, Michael Bishop '11, Jon McGraw '02, Jaime Mendez '94, Martin Gramatica '99 and Kendra Wecker '06. Full rosters featuring Wildcats from numerous sports will be announced later this summer. Proceeds for the event will go toward a walk-on scholarship.

"Emily and I are excited to host this event the day after the Southern Illinois football game," Nelson said. "These softball games were extremely impactful in the Green Bay community, and we wanted to bring that same excitement and opportunity to the community that we love and call home. Our plan is for this to be an annual event that will continue to grow and involve Wildcat greats from all sports. We know that it will be exciting for the players and fans, but most importantly, our motivation comes from using this as a platform to help local charities and nonprofit organizations and assist in the funding of a football scholarship for a walk-on player. We look forward to spending the day with the best fans in college athletics!"

Tickets for the Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game presented by Peoples State Bank start as low as $5 for K-State students. Outfield section seats are priced $8 to $12, sections behind home plate are $15 to $20, and a limited number of VIP seats directly behind home plate that include a Jordy Nelson autographed softball are $75. Football season ticket holders in suites and clubs will have the opportunity to purchase premium tickets in the West Stadium Center for the game.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets or by calling the K-State Athletics Ticket office at 1-800-221-CATS.

"We are thrilled to cap our home-opening football weekend with this special event," added Athletics Director Gene Taylor. "Jordy and Emily have assembled an all-star cast with some of K-State's all-time greats, and we appreciate them bringing such an event that will greatly benefit our community and that our fans will thoroughly enjoy."