WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) - Kansas residents can apply to most Kansas institutions for free Oct. 7-9, regardless of age or income. That includes any of the seven public universities, 19 community colleges, six technical colleges, and the 21 private member institutions of the Kansas Independent College Association. "What it really does as well is just highlight how important some post-secondary education is to the future of Kansas and to the future employment of an individual and really show how the higher education system can help serve all Kansans," KBOR president Blake Flanders said. General applications, certificate programs, associate degree programs, and bachelor degree programs are eligible. Graduate and other mid-degree applications don't qualify. Click here for instructions. It applies to first-time freshmen, transfer students, returning students, and those who want a second bachelor's degree. According to the Kansas Board of Regents, 2023 fall applications increased by 18% compared to 2022. 30% of all fall applications were submitted during apply-free days, and 27% were submitted by prospective first-generation students. Biologists investigate where cluster of Kansas western diamondback rattlesnakes are coming from Flanders said they did a job study and found that Kansas would create 54,000 jobs in the next 10 years. Of those, 80% will require a baccalaureate degree. "It's going to be very important to have some post-secondary education. It's also good for Kansas. Businesses need talent in order to remain competitive and in order to remain in our communities," Flanders said. "And I remember the day when business when they came to a state, they would they would want to see things like, you know, what's the infrastructure, all these other things. And that's still important, but the number one reason businesses settle in a state is because of the talent." Flanders says his goal is for application fees to be waived permanently. "We're going to test it a couple of more years just to be sure. We want to do the right thing and see how that goes," Flanders said. "We expect great results." Jana Crittenden is a counselor at Newton High School and says this gives students more freedom to explore more schools. "I think it gives them more options," Crittenden said. "Then they can compare their financial aid packages and really kind of get a true picture of what their cost of attendance might be. Because they have that option to submit their financial aid, get scholarship and financial aid packages back for more than one or two universities or colleges." Hurricane Milton explodes to Category 4 as Florida prepares for massive evacuations Patrick Winter is the director of admissions at Kansas State University and says they had over 2,000 students apply during the free period last year. "It was pretty significant," Winter said. "It was a fairly big jump. During that time, certainly we have some savvy consumers out there that want to save themselves the application fee. So in a normal period of time, we wouldn't have seen nearly that many applications. Winter says this benefits all Kansans. "We want students to pursue higher education no matter where and no matter what institution that is," Winter said. "We would love for them to come to K-State, but we know that there are fantastic options across the entire state." One of the goals is to expose students to more choices. "I think we're going to find that students maybe when they start to get exposed to a school that they weren't considering, they might realize, wow, this might actually be a better fit for me," Winter said. "And that while all along I was thinking that I might have gone to one institution, now that I'm getting information from this school and now that I've received the scholarship, it really has caused me to check it out a little bit more, and maybe it's a better fit. And ultimately that's what we want is for students to find the school that's the right fit for them."