Sat, Nov 21 2009
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MSSU president lays out plans to trim spending The path
State appropriations have dwindled over the past 30 years, according to Speck, who said the state went from paying 69.4 percent of a student’s tuition to 34.5 percent. All the while, operating costs such as those for utilities, wages and supplies continue to climb. “We’ve had a decrease in funding and an increase in cost, and I don’t see that trend changing anytime soon,” he said. As state funding decreased, Speck said, the university kept tuition constant and actually dropped it in 2006. At the same time, he said, the university continued or increased the amount of scholarships it was giving, and continued to hand out raises to staff and faculty members. Speck said dropping tuition and increasing scholarships to increase enrollment did not work. MSSU increased its tuition by 20 percent from 2002 to 2004 and lost about 100 students, but actually made a profit. During constant tuition rates in 2004 and 2005, the university continued to lose students, and it also fell back into deficit spending. In 2008, the university had about 5,600 students enrolled, compared with about 5,900 in 2002. Students are paying $33 more a credit hour now compared with then, and the university had a $2.4 million loss last year. “It was a common-sense notion that has shown not to be effective in this case,” Speck said. Missouri Southern spends $5.3 million a year, or about 23 percent of the money that tuition and student fees bring in, on MSSU-funded scholarships. That percentage should be more like 15 percent to 19 percent, Speck said, in comparison with other public universities. “We are buying students to get our numbers,” he said. The future Earlier this year, the Board of Governors gave Speck a mandate to cut $500,000 from the 2008-09 budget. So far, Speck has shut down the Regional Economic Development Center that former professor Tom Simpson ran before taking a job in Iraq. Speck said the center was supposed to be self-supporting, but it cost the university between $80,000 and $90,000 last year. Speck anticipates 2008-09 being a “lean” year for Missouri Southern, and said 2009-10 could be even tighter, but he thinks some of the changes being made now should start to show progress during that 2009-10 school year. At that point, he said, the goal is to begin rebuilding the university’s reserves. Other cuts that Speck hopes will add up to a big difference include: n Behavioral changes within the staff, including raising thermostats across the campus to 75 degrees, and turning off lights and computers when they are not being used. n Paring down events such as the faculty dinner that cost the university $6,700 last year and the international party that cost $7,000. Both of those events will still take place, but in less expensive forms. Speck also said the university is discontinuing its practice of sending flowers to employees because of sickness or a family death. 
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