The UM System Board of Curators will set a goal of keeping a tuition increase for 2011-12 “in the single digits” when members vote on potential rate increases Friday, Nikki Krawitz, UM System Vice President of Finance and Administration, said Monday.
Krawitz said the university has been discussing a tuition increase to the curators over the course of the last few board meetings and feels the public is ready for it.
The tuition increase will be one of many efforts UM System officials put forth to close a funding gap of $72 million, in part created by a proposed 7 percent cut in funding Gov. Jay Nixon proposed last week. During his State of the State address Jan. 19, Nixon said, despite the fall in public university funding, he plans to allocate an additional $12 million in scholarship funding for students. UM System Interim President Steve Owens responded with gratitude to the proposed cut, which was less than the 15 percent cut UM System officials said they feared at the most recent curators’ meeting.
“Given the state’s projected revenue shortfalls, we appreciate the governor’s support for the state’s higher education needs in this tough economic environment,” Owens said in a Jan. 20 news release.
According to the news release, a potential 7 percent cut would total up to a $29.8 million cut for the UM System.
Curators assured students they would not close the entire funding gap for the university with a tuition increase, and Krawitz said the system could look to the same departments and funds they’ve cut from in the past when making decisions on where to decrease spending in the next year.
She said one of these areas the UM System has cut from in the past has been maintenance repair, along with physical plant building funds, funds for professional development, travel and supplies.
“As part of the university’s ongoing efforts to improve efficiency, we made $61.5 million in cost reductions last year through travel, supply expense and workforce reductions; deferred maintenance and repair; and energy conservation,” Owens said. “An additional $11.3 million in cuts and efficiencies also has already been identified in the process of planning for next year’s budget.”
Krawitz said the UM System is retaining students and getting more into its universities, despite the budget cuts and potential tuition increases.
“We assume that we can continue to enroll students where we have the capacity,” Krawitz said. “Then we’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing, which is not fill positions when they become open.”
MU spokesman Christian Basi said there is still a lot of work for the legislature to do pertaining to the budget, and the final numbers will be ready in May.
Basi said it is premature to comment on potential cuts now.
“We’ll be watching this very closely and working with folks as we can to make sure that we have the best budget available for MU in the coming year,” Basi said.