Citing a drop in state financial support, the UM system Board of Curators all but confirmed a specific tuition increase in a special meeting by teleconference Friday.
“We strongly feel that if, in light of the projected decrease in state support, we don’t raise tuition and required fees, we will struggle to sustain the quality that we need in order to provide the type of education that we need for the students,” said Nikki Krawitz, UM system vice president of finance and administration.
No specific tuition suggestions were discussed, but those numbers will be brought to the table at the Jan. 27 and 28 meetings at MU, where a final tuition decision will be reached. But Krawitz said the system does not want to see an increase greater than 10 percent.
“This is, in large part, driven by what decisions are made in Jefferson City,” Board chairman Warren Erdman said. “Hopefully, that will become a little more clear before we have to take this action in two weeks. I don’t make any assumptions about that. The only assumption I’ll make is that we will not have a flat tuition for a third year in a row.”
Enacted in 2007, Senate Bill 389 prevents Missouri four-year public institutions from hoisting tuition above the Consumer Price Index. Because the system would likely raise tuition by more than 1.5 percent, it would have to appeal to a provision in the bill, which would allow tuition to rise higher than inflation.
That is why tuition is already being discussed, Krawitz said. Typically, tuition is set in the spring. She said it is imperative for the system to submit its appeal to the state in January, or else the situation could be stalled late into the spring.
“Let me just say that that process, in a worst case scenario, could take us all the way until the end of April just to get that resolved because of the amount of time that the commissioner has to respond to us, the amount of time that we have to respond back,” Krawitz said.
The system expects the state will cut its funding by about 5 percent. This, in addition to other cost increases, would result in a $64.4 million funding gap for the system. MU is looking at a funding gap of $30.7 million, Chancellor Brady Deaton said.
Deaton predicts MU enrollment will increase by 3 percent next year, which would help offset that amount by about $6 million. He said MU has also been able to strategically save $9 million over the last few years.
“We will cut back in some major aspects of our mission if we see any diminution of the quality of instruction on our campus,” Deaton said. “That’s fundamental to everything else that we’re doing.”
Tuition will be decoupled across the four-campus system, as each campus competes in a separate market. MU competes with other large state institutions, such as the University of Illinois. MU’s low tuition might inhibit its competitiveness in this market, Deaton said.
“I don’t like what I hear, but this is what I hear from many parents,” Deaton said. “‘You know, the University of Missouri might not have a high enough tuition because our children only want to go to a more expensive institution.’ They have that image that if it’s more expensive, they’re getting more for their dollar.”
Plans are for the salary pool to increase by 2 percent, something Krawitz said is mandatory. MU’s average faculty salaries ranks at the bottom when compared to the Association of American Universities’ public institutions.
“If we don’t take care of the people that work for us and we don’t take care of our facilities and we don’t consider those mandatory, then we’ll always take those off the table,” Krawitz said. “It changed the rhetoric.”
The situation will be finalized at the Jan. 27 and 28 meetings at MU.
