Regents OK higher fees, tuition in new budget

COSTS AT SEMO

By Bob Miller ~ Southeast Missourian

The Southeast Missouri State Board of Regents, still stinging from a whirlwind of sudden allocation cuts from the state government in recent months, officially declared the school in a state of financial emergency Wednesday while passing a budget for fiscal 2003 with sweeping cuts and a tuition increase.

A total of $4 million in state funding was withheld in May, and as a result Southeast had to use up its financial reserves to cover costs. In addition to replenishing its rainy day fund level to $2 million, the board moved to set aside an extra $1 million to cover any future allocation cuts.

School president Dr. Ken Dobbins said he has learned how important the rainy day funds are. And the unpredictability of the cuts handed down from the state has left him and the board feeling they have no choice but to start preparing as soon as possible.

Should the school not need the extra $1 million, it would be placed into the rainy day fund.

If Dobbins could be assured that no more allocation cuts would be made, "it's a different ball game," he said. "We just can't be caught short again or it would be devastating."

The extra $1 million to be set aside for future costs adds to the cuts and fee increases that were decided on Wednesday.

Already, 10 positions have been eliminated and Dobbins expects as many as 18 more to be wiped out by October.

The SEMO budget that was approved called for roughly $77 million in expenditures and $75 million in revenue. Upon the emergency designation, the board approved the budget on the condition that the cuts be made and the fees increased.

The budget was set up in such a way where dollar amounts were set, but with the flexibility to allow the specific areas of those cuts to be determined in the next few months. Among the possibilities is the consolidation of departments.

"I couldn't tell you how we'll restructure yet," Dobbins said.

Tuition increases

Students, excluding high school students involved in dual credit and enrollment, will pay $6 more per credit hour this fall, in addition to a $17 tuition increase that was recently instituted for in-state undergraduates and a $20.50 increase for in-state graduate students.

The $6 increase, however, could be revoked once the school finds itself in better financial standing, said Don Dickerson, board president.

The dual-credit students will have to pay 5 percent more beginning this fall and students in the communications disorder and nursing graduate programs will have to pay $250 more per semester. Those programs are the two most costly programs on campus, provost Jane Stephens said, because the teacher-to-student ratios are so low.

The board also increased off-campus fees -- including Internet classes and classes offered at satellite campuses -- by $2 per credit hour.

Of all the items discussed Wednesday, the act of increasing tuition to a record amount for the second time this year bothered board member Doyle Privett more than any other action taken.

"I think in terms of a tight budget, I don't mind the cuts so much myself," Privett said. "I sure wish I didn't have to do it, but I really hate raising tuition."

Cutting higher ed

State Senate president pro-tem Peter Kinder and state representative Jason Crowell, both Cape Girardeau Republicans who were involved in the negotiating struggle to balance the state budget that started with a $135-million deficit, are agitated that funds for elementary and secondary education increased by $134 million at the expense of higher education.

Kinder did not attend Wednesday's regents meeting, while Crowell was present for a portion of the discussions.

Neither could offer any guarantees that future cuts to higher education aren't on the way. Kinder said setting aside $1 million for more cuts was "probably a prudent course."

Crowell said higher education has been hit hard enough.

"I think it's clearly been shown that higher education has taken its fair share of cuts, and I don't know if we've done the top-to-bottom evaluation of state government that needs to be done in other areas," he said.

Considering the state budget situation, Kinder said the K-12 educational budget increase was over-the-top and that higher education was made a "sacrificial cow."

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127