FEE HIKE MIRRORS TRENDS; HIGHER EDUCATION TUITIONS ARE RISING

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Recent~ly approved student fee increases at Southeast Missouri State University mirror a nationwide trend, a university official said.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, said that even with the increases Southeast fees next year should be about the same as those at other Missouri schools because the other schools also are expected to hike student fees.

"I think it's obvious. We're all in the same boat; we all have increased costs," said Wallhausen.

Southeast's in-state tuition charges this academic year are lower for students taking 15 credit hours (a full-time load) than those at Northwest, Northeast, Central and Southwest Missouri state universities and the University of Missouri.

Southeast ranks in the middle in a Southeast Missouri State survey of tuition charges for in-state undergraduates at 17 universities in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas in this 1990-91 academic year.

Based on 15 credit hours, those with lower tuition charges are Morehead State, Murray State, Eastern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Lincoln, Arkansas State, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and University of Tennessee-Memphis.

Morehead State has the lowest tuition of the schools surveyed, with a charge of $630 a semester for students taking 15 credit hours. Murray State is second lowest, at $645 a semester; but that includes a $55 student activity fee.

For the same number of credit hours, students at Southeast pay $745 a semester. That will go to $858 a semester beginning with the start of the summer session in May. That's still below the current national average of $905 a semester for four-year public institutions, the survey shows.

Of the schools surveyed, Southern Illinois-Carbondale had the highest tuition $1,166 per semester for 15 credit hours. SIU's tuition charges include $172 for student health benefits and insurance coverage, which is refundable if proof of other medical coverage is provided.

Others with tuition higher than Southeast's are: Northwest Missouri, $750; Austin Peay, $761; Northeast Missouri, $804; Central Missouri, $840; Southwest Missouri, $895; and University of Missouri, $900 a semester.

Central Missouri State is talking of raising fees by $5 to $10 per credit hour effective with the start of the fall semester. In addition, students there can also expect increases in housing and meal costs.

The Southeast Board of Regents Friday approved hikes in student fees and room and board charges. Combined with the hike in fees, many beginning students at Southeast will pay more than $4,500 in fees for the 1991-92 academic year, or about $500 more than the combined fall and spring semester fees this academic year.

On top of that, the Student Government at Southeast is proposing two new student fees: a $9-per-semester athletic fee and a student activities fee of $16 per semester. Student senators are expected to vote on the issue March 18. Final action rests with the university administration and Board of Regents.

The athletic fee would generate an estimated $100,000 in revenue that would be used to provide more "free" seating for students at basketball and football games and for promoting student interest and support of athletic programs, said Bob Beodeker, Student Government adviser.

Currently, 800 free seats for each basketball game and 1,000 free seats for each football game are reserved for students. Under the athletic fee plan, 1,500 free seats for each football game and 1,600 seats for each basketball game would be reserved, Beodeker said. In addition, the plan would provide no increase in the athletic fee for at least five years.

Beodeker said all Ohio Valley Conference schools have such fees. "We will be the lowest of all the schools," he said. Southeast joined the OVC and will begin competing in that league this fall.

The $16-a-semester activities fee would be used to fund campus organizations, student activities, Student Government functions and special projects such as perhaps development of a student transportation system, Beodeker said.

Currently, Southeast spends about $140,000 of its regular operating budget on funding campus organizations and other student activities.

Implementation of an activities fee would provide about $200,000 for funding campus organizations and other student activities and free up $140,000 in general revenue that can be used to help fund the overall operation of the university, Beodeker said.

Steve Nenninger, a student senator and a member of the Board of Regents, said recently that Student Government doesn't want to "overburden" students with fees.

Nationwide, many public colleges and universities are looking at large tuition hikes to make up for shortfalls in state appropriations, education officials report.

"In the public sector, tuition is going through the roof," James R. Mingle, executive director of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, told The Chronicle of Higher Education. States in financial straits are counting on tuition increases to replace tax shortfalls, he told the national publication, which reports on higher-education issues.

The University of California has proposed a 40 percent increase in fees, to an average of more than $2,200.

At Purdue University, tuition, which now stands at $2,200, could rise by 6 to 12 percent.

"Except for community colleges, the era of the low-tuition public sector is clearly over," Edward R. Hines, director of the Center for Higher Education at Illinois State University told The Chronicle.

Wallhausen said there's a practical limit as to how high student fees can be raised at any one time.

"I think the feeling was that this (the fee increase at Southeast) is the maximum increase that could be tolerated without adversely affecting enrollment," said Wallhausen.

In recent years, Southeast has had to raise fees to meet a goal of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education, which calls for student fees to provide at least 28 percent of an institution's operating revenue.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, student fees amounted to 13 to 14 percent of the university's general operating budget. In 1982 it jumped to 20.5 percent. It reached 28 percent in 1986-87, and has hovered there since.

For fiscal 1990, student fees brought in $12.7 million or 28 percent of Southeast's $45.5 million operating budget. This year it's projected to be around 29 percent. With the fee increases, that percentage is expected to climb to more than 30 percent in the coming academic year, said Wallhausen.

While student fees have risen, state funding as a percentage of Southeast's general operating budget has declined. In 1977, 80 percent of Southeast's operating revenue came from the state. Today, said Wallhausen, it is 67 percent.

The fact that a number of regional universities in neighboring states offer lower tuition is a concern to Southeast officials. "It certainly is a competitive problem," said Wallhausen.

That's particularly true in the case of Murray State in Murray, Ky., which allows students from surrounding counties in neighboring states to pay tuition at a special rate only slightly higher than in-state tuition. Missouri doesn't allow its public colleges and universities to allow out-of-state students to pay such relatively low tuition charges, Wallhausen said.

Eligible students from 36 counties in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee can attend Murray State at a tuition cost that is just $200 more a semester than Kentucky residents pay. Those counties include Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Scott and Stoddard counties in Missouri.

Students must meet certain requirements in order to be eligible to pay the special tuition charge, said Mary Smith of Murray State's Office of Admissions and Records.

"We probably have about an eighth of our enrollment from those surrounding counties," she said.

On top of that, residents of four counties that immediately border Calloway County, Ky., where Murray State is situated, can attend the institution and pay in-state tuition. That's allowed under terms of a reciprocal agreement between Kentucky and Tennessee, Smith said.