Regents raise tuition costs, parking fines

RECORD INCREASE

By Mark Bliss ~ Southeast Missourian

Southeast Missouri State University's regents reluctantly approved the largest increase in tuition in school history on Saturday, saying state spending cuts left them no choice.

The regents, meeting at the University Center, raised tuition $17 a credit hour for in-state undergraduates and $20.50 for in-state graduate students, roughly a 15-percent increase in both cases.

The regents tried to soften the blow by trimming the increase in fees charged to out-of-state students and deferring until next school year a $1-per-credit-hour increase to pay for computer database improvements dealing with everything from payroll to student and alumni records.

Still, Missouri undergraduates taking 12 credit hours of classes will be paying $1,614 in the fall, $204 more than this semester.

The tuition hikes will generate about $3 million in added revenue for the university, which also has delayed hirings and equipment purchases to help make up for a $6 million funding shortfall.

"None of us wants to do this," Regent Kim Mothershead said. "Shame on the government of Missouri for making us have to put this cost on the backs of students."

Regent John Tlapek said the board likely will have to substantially raise student fees again next year.

The board also doubled parking fines except for first violations, which will remain at the current level for another school year. Fines for first violations in a school year will double after two parking garages are opened in the fall of 2003.

Student government voted against the proposed increases in tuition and general fees, as well as higher parking fines last week.

But after the regents meeting Saturday, student government president-elect Ross McFerron said he was satisfied with the action.

He welcomed the regents' deferral of the general fees increase and their decision to leave parking fines for first violations unchanged. For most parking offenses, the first violation carries a $10 fine.

"I think they showed a commitment to the students," McFerron said.

School officials said parking fines haven't changed since at least 1988. "With increased enrollment, parking is a problem," said Dr. Pauline Fox, vice president of administration and enrollment management. "People are not parking where they are supposed to be parking."

Many students are parking illegally, preferring to pay parking tickets rather than follow campus parking rules, she said.

Sophomore Laura Hockensmith, the newly appointed student regent, said parking will be even worse next spring when construction is under way on two new parking garages at sites that currently are parking lots. That work will make it even harder to find parking on campus, she said, explaining why many students oppose raising parking fines.

As student regent, Hockensmith doesn't have a vote on the board. There are six voting members on the board.

The revised parking ticket plan places second and subsequent violations at $40, double the current fine.

The regents also voted to levy a fee of $1 a semester for students enrolled in six or more credit hours to be effective this fall. The fee is expected to raise about $14,000 a year for Southeast's Student Government Association to be a member of the new Student Association of Missouri, or SAM.

But student leaders, who asked the regents to approve the fee, said students can get their money back if they make written requests to SAM.

The organization was formed to promote student leadership and provide a way for student government leaders at Missouri colleges to lobby lawmakers.

Out-of-state concerns

The regents spent much of the meeting discussing tuition.

Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast president, said the tuition increases originally proposed for out-of-state students -- $34 for undergraduates and $41 for graduate students -- could have made it harder to recruit students from Illinois and hurt enrollment.

The regents raised tuition for out-of-state undergraduates by $25 and out-of-state graduate students by $30, amounting to about 12 percent increases.

Dobbins said the smaller fee increase for out-of-state undergraduate students means the university will have to make up about $80,000, but he said a larger increase could have cost the school perhaps $5,000 in lost fees for every out-of-state student who stayed away because of the cost.

Dobbins said the university wants to continue to attract students from Illinois.

"It does seem to me a little harsh to whack them with this kind of an increase," Dobbins said of the initial fee proposal.

Still, Southeast has few out-of-state students. In fall 2000, only 875 undergraduates came from outside Missouri. No statistics were immediately available on how many graduate students were from out of state, but school officials said most of the nearly 1,200 graduate students that year were from Missouri.

River Campus defense

Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents, defended the university's plan to develop the $36 million River Campus arts school at a time when state budget cuts are forcing the university to raise student fees. He said any state funding for that project couldn't be used to pay university operating costs and wouldn't lessen the school's need for higher student fees.

"Any talk of whether we should proceed with the River Campus or not is not relevant," Dickerson said. "Either we build it or we lose $16 million from the state."

In other action, the regents:

Voted to spend $292,000 for further testing and cleanup of radiation contamination on the north end of campus.

Approved a new bachelor's degree in performing arts, which is subject to state approval, and new options for several existing degrees.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123