<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border=0>Budget crunch looms for Missouri higher education <font color="#ff0000"> w/ commissioner's letter to college and university officials</font>

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February 3, 2010

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Wed Feb 03, 2010, 03:32 PM CST

By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

Privatizing public universities, shutting down colleges, and across-the-board elimination of athletic programs are just some of the ideas that college and university presidents in Missouri are expected to discuss during a meeting next week with the Missouri Department of Higher Education.

In a Jan. 22 letter to all chancellors and presidents of Missouri’s public colleges and universities, Commissioner Robert Stein outlined 12 proposals for saving money in light of what is being termed a “day of reckoning” for the state’s budget coming in 2012.

“Several institutions already have cut back on their athletic programs, so those kinds of things are in the realm of possibility,” said Paul Wagner, deputy commissioner. “What we were doing in that memo is passing along some of the ideas we’ve gathered from informal conversations we’ve been having.

“Frankly, there is an element of getting people’s attention,” he said. “Just the fact that those kind of scenarios were brought up shows people are starting to grasp the depth of the problem.”

The problem goes deeper than just the budget for 2012. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has already pledged to hold cuts for higher education to roughly 5 percent for the 2011 fiscal year, after the state’s universities agreed to a second consecutive year of tuition freezes.

But what Wagner and others have cautioned is that the economic challenges facing the state in the coming fiscal year and beyond may be too deep to prevent a massive reduction in the level of state support that higher education has received. As much as 20 percent of the state’s appropriations — money that is often used for the general operating costs at colleges and universities — could be removed from budgets.

Wagner said the state board will meet next Thursday with the collegiate leadership in Lexington to have “engaged discussions.”

MSSU, Crowder react

Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck said Southern is expecting to go from $24 million in state appropriations to $20 million by fiscal year 2012.

In order for MSSU to recover the loss of $4 million in state appropriations, tuition would have to increase to $176, a $33 or 23 percent increase, Southern officials said. The figure is based on the number of credit hours in which students were enrolled in the fall semester.

Speck said that the university is, in essence, taking a “double cut” in the sense that state appropriations are being decreased, and at the same time, the school does not have the authority to generate more revenue through a tuition increase.

“If you’re going to tell us we can’t raise tuition, and we can’t get state funds, it’s a double cut,” he said. “When the government says to us, ‘We’re going to give you less money,’ that money has to come from somewhere else. The customer will end up paying more.”

Wagner said that individual institutions can approach the state board about a tuition increase waiver, but large scale increases may not bring the needed relief.

“If Southern were to raise tuition 23 percent, it’s one thing to do that on paper, but in reality, that might really affect Southern’s enrollment,” he said. “If students can’t afford to pay it, they might not enroll. The kind of pressure it puts on students and families that much means you’re not necessarily going to collect all the revenue you would hope just by raising tuition.”

MSSU students Taylor Shanks and Cameron Mabe said they are concerned about the possibility of their school losing that much money.

“That’s absolutely terrible,” said Mabe, a freshman in marketing. “We’re trying to better ourselves (by getting an education).”

Shanks said he believes a reduction of that magnitude would be a short-sighted fix.

“That’s basically paying for your future,” he said. “We’re the people that are going to replace your higher-skilled jobs. Cutting money may be good in the short term, but you’re sacrificing the future.”

Alan Marble, president of Crowder College, said the 2012 fiscal year is “in the front of our mind,” but that it was still too early to start devising specific plans.

“There are too many variables,” he said. “It’s still too early to know what the details are.”

For example, this year’s agreement with Gov. Nixon would mean Missouri’s community colleges would not impose a tuition increase on in-state students for the 2010-2011 school year. In exchange, their funding would only be reduced by 5.2 percent.

That agreement still has to pass the Legislature, Marble said.

“We still don’t really know about this year,” he said.

As for 2012, Marble said the college has had to plan for budget scenarios with cuts of 5 percent to 15 percent in previous years. It would likely develop different options in conjunction with division heads so that there is input.

“It will be a process that everyone will be involved in,” Marble said.

Legislator’s take

Before turning to the 2012 budget, state legislators are still wrangling with the fiscal year 2011 numbers. That budget year begins in July. It will also be the last budget year that stabilization funds from the federal stimulus bill will be available to plug holes in the budget, according to state Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood.

“I don’t mean to be melodramatic here, but the day of reckoning is about a year away unless something drastic changes,” Icet said. “One of the points that I’ve been trying to make with colleagues on both sides of the aisle is, if we think we have challenges in 2011, it’s going to be an order of magnitude worse when we have to start planning for 2012.”

Wagner said that ultimately the decisions that individual universities make in terms of cutting their budgets will be left in the hands of the local boards of governors and curators.

Core programs

Paul Wagner, deputy commissioner of higher education in Missouri, said, “Ultimately, it’s up to individual boards to set up their budgets. Institutional priorities will remain their responsibility. What we are trying to do is foster the sense of urgency. We want some sort of coordinated approach to maintaining the core programs we need to maintain at the state level.”