GOV. ASHCROFT'S BUDGET INCLUDESW NO OPERATING INCREASE FOR SOUTHEAST

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Southeast Missouri State University would operate in the 1992 fiscal year with no increase in state funding, under budget recommendations made by Gov. John Ashcroft.

Kala Stroup, Southeast's president, said the university has already had to cope with budget cuts and Ashcroft's recommendations reflect a continuing dismal financial picture for Southeast and higher education in general statewide.

"This will continue to erode the human resources and the facilities we have," Stroup said Wednesday. "I think it's unfortunate."

Stroup added, "We're obviously going to have to look at some type of tuition increase. Also, we'll have to look at ways to reduce present expenditures substantially."

Faced with tight state finances, Ashcroft has recommended state funding for Missouri's four-year colleges and universities that basically would leave the respective institutions at the same spending level for the next fiscal year as compared with the current fiscal year. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Ashcroft is recommending a state appropriation for Southeast of $31,728,104, which is less than the $32,567,472 initially appropriated for the university last year.

But after an automatic withholding of 3 percent is taken into account, the spending level for Southeast would total $30,776,261.

That's the same level of funding Southeast is receiving in the current fiscal year as a result of almost $1.8 million in cuts in state funding for the institution, said Stroup.

Ashcroft's appropriation recommendation for Southeast is considerably less than the $37,516,491 requested by the university, following the budget criteria of the Coordinating Board for Higher Education.

Stroup said Southeast has implemented educational reforms favored by Ashcroft. But, she said, it's difficult for institutions to continue making improvements without adequate funding.

"It puts us in a quandary when we're doing what the state needs ... and, on the other hand, we're told to cut back."

Stroup said that university officials don't want to make budget-cutting moves that would hurt Southeast's academic programs. "We do not want to reduce the quality of what's happening in the classroom."

The university president said she understands the financial problems facing state government.

Stroup said that greater funding is needed for higher education and education in general in Missouri.

A state commission, whose members were appointed by Ashcroft, has called for one-time additional funding of $340 million in capital expenses for higher education and additional annual funding of $300 million for state colleges and universities.

"We have got to make an investment in education," said Stroup.