MSSU tuition freeze to continue next year

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November 17, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Tue Nov 17, 2009, 10:31 PM CST

By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

Students at Missouri Southern State University for the second year in a row won’t see an increase in tuition or academic fees.

But this time, keeping tuition flat at Southern will come with some belt tightening to the tune of $1.2 million in reduced state appropriations for the university in fiscal 2011. The fiscal year starts July 1, 2010.

Welcome news

Not surprisingly, students at Southern welcomed the news.

Kierra Fowler, a sophomore, said: “I’m paying for school with student loans. Plus, I don’t have a job right now, so it’s really hard for me to pay for living expenses like food. Anything can help.”

Garrett Shank, a sophomore studying market advertising, said he thought the school’s image in the area would be helped by not raising tuition.

“I’m transferring next year, but I still think it’s a good idea,” he said. “I think the school is having a harder time drawing students now. This will keep the school more competitive with other schools around the area like Pittsburg (Kan.) State.”

Chris White, a junior studying environmental health, and Heather Mustain, a sophomore studying medical technology, also said not raising tuition would help enrollment at the university.

“I’m paying for school out of my own pocket,” said White. “So this is good news for me. It’s a key point that tuition wouldn’t change next year.”

Mustain said: “I’ve got student loans, so I’m glad if it doesn’t go up, too. With the financial aid I’m receiving now, I’ll be able to pocket more money for other school expenses like books. Those prices go up, so it’s nice if tuition would stay the same.”

While building platforms for a production of “Schoolhouse Rock,” Thorr Miller, a junior, said: “That’s absolutely great. The less I have to pay, the happier I am.”

Conditions

On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon said an agreement had been reached with the presidents of the state’s four-year public institutions to freeze tuition for in-state, undergraduate students in the 2010-11 school year. The agreement is subject to approval by the General Assembly and the institutions’ governing boards.

During a visit Tuesday to Missouri State University in Springfield, Nixon said, “To turn this economy around, Missourians must be trained, educated and ready to work, and that’s why it was vital that we kept tuition flat for Missouri families,” according to a statement issued by his office.

“As tuition skyrockets by double digits in other states, university leaders, faculty members and my administration have worked together to put Missouri students first and protect them from tuition spikes for the second year in a row. By helping keep higher education affordable, we are taking bold steps to prepare the work force that will move Missouri forward.”

Under a similar agreement for the 2009-10 school year, Missouri’s four-year public colleges and universities froze tuition in exchange for stable funding in the fiscal 2010 budget. Before last year’s freeze, tuition at Missouri’s public four-year colleges and universities increased by an average of 7.5 percent a year over the past decade.

‘Permanent cut’

For Missouri Southern, the cut in state funding in 2010-11 will amount to about $1.2 million.

Bruce Speck, MSSU president, on Tuesday said: “In the 2011 budget process, we will try to address that by looking at the positions we have and our entire operation. We have already frozen hiring. Our reserves are being built up, and that will be helpful.

“We perceive this as a permanent cut. But nobody knows what to expect in 2012. By then, the stimulus money will run out, and there will be nothing to fall back on.”

Scott Holste, spokesman for the governor, said in a phone interview that the university presidents agreed that there “has to be some belt tightening. When compared to other states where deep cuts have been made in higher education, this is a pretty modest cut.

“When compared to other states where there has been double-digit inflation in tuition, this goes against the grain and bucks the previous trend in tuition hikes for the past 10 years.”

Holste said the governor has been careful to allot money from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to education and Medicaid over two fiscal years. Some states, he said, infused all of their money in one year.

“The governor wants to keep tuition the same so that college can be affordable for more middle-class families,” Holste said. “The hope is as the economy continues to rebound, jobs will be created because we have a trained work force here.”

Speck said it was better for the governor to split the stimulus money over two years instead of using it all in one year.

“Those with a sense of the economy are saying that there will not be an instant rebound,” he said. “I think what the governor has done is prudent.”

Enrollment

Speck said he hopes that Southern will see an increase in enrollment similar to the 6 percent increase it experienced this fall. Another increase would help offset the loss in state revenue, he said.

Under the agreement with Nixon, the institutions may put a tuition increase on their books for next year, but they may not charge in-state, undergraduate students for that increase. The agreement will take effect upon approval of the fiscal 2011 appropriation, as long as the approved appropriation at least matches the governor’s recommended budget, Holste said.

Staff photographer Roger Nomer contributed to this report.

Statewide

Despite economic challenges that are forcing cuts throughout state government, Gov. Jay Nixon agreed to maintain higher education funding at about 95 percent of the current fiscal year’s appropriation. That works out to be a reduction of 5.2 percent, or $42 million, statewide, according to his office.