SEMO CONSIDERS TUITION HIKE; NEW FEE WOULD FUND SCHOOL'S HEALTH CENTER

Southeast Missouri State University wants to hike tuition and general fees, and add a student health fee.

Combined, the fees would total $107.50 a credit-hour for in-state undergraduates, a $4 hike from the current rate.

An undergraduate student taking 12 credit-hours would pay $1,290 for a single semester, a $48 increase from the current cost.

The university wants to increase fees for out-of-state undergraduate and in-state graduate students by $7 a credit-hour. Out-of-state graduate students would pay an added $13 a credit-hour.

The fees per credit-hour would total $193.50 for out-of-state undergraduates, $119.50 for in-state graduates and $216.50 for out-of-state graduate students.

The school's Budget Review Committee and the administration have recommended the fee hikes and the new health fee. The Board of Regents will consider approving the fees at its March 24 meeting. The fees would take effect with the start of the fall semester.

Southeast wants to charge students 45 cents a credit-hour to help fund the Center for Health and Counseling. The fee would provide for additional staff and allow the center to be open evenings and weekends, university officials said.

Many schools charge students a fee to help fund campus health services, Southeast officials said.

The new fee would be part of a $1 a credit-hour hike in the general fee. The other 55 cents of that increase would go to athletics, said Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president.

In all, the general fee would climb to $8.20 a credit-hour for undergraduate and graduate students, he said.

The tuition increase would range from a $3-a-credit-hour hike for in-state undergraduates to a $12-a-credit-hour increase for out-of-state graduate students.

In-state undergraduate students would pay 3.1 percent more than they currently do. For an academic year, the increase is about $100, Dobbins said.

The university administration wants to keep student fee increases as low as possible, said Dobbins, adding: "We are trying to be very frugal obviously."

Even with the fee hikes, Southeast would still be competitive with other public universities in Missouri, Dobbins said.

Every $1 hike in the per-credit-hour fee would net the university about $185,000 in added revenue after the cost of increased scholarships is taken into account, he said.

Dobbins said the fee hikes are needed to offset increased operating costs and allow for expanded services.

The fee increases are needed in part because the university expects to receive less than a 2 percent hike in state funding for general operations in the coming fiscal year, he said.

The Center for Health and Counseling operates on a budget of $359,000 a year. A 45-cent-a-credit-hour fee would generate about $83,000 a year in additional revenue for the center.

Judy St. John, who directs the center, said the added money would be used to hire another full-time nurse and another part-time counselor.

The added revenue also would allow the center to move a substance-abuse prevention education coordinator from part time to full time, budget officials said.

St. John said the center's need for additional dollars has been a topic of discussion since 1990. A fee was even proposed at one point, but the idea was shelved by university officials because of more pressing fee needs.

St. John said the center operates with a handful of full- and part-time nurses and counselors. "Currently, we have over 10,000 student visits per academic year," she said.

In addition to the regular staff, two nurse practitioners each work 10 hours a week at the campus clinic. The nurse practitioners see students on a fee-for-service basis.

St. John said an expanded staff would allow students to receive counseling sooner. "Sometimes students have to wait as long as two weeks to get into a counselor," she said.

As to the athletic fee, the university charges students 83 cents a credit-hour. The fee is part of the school's general fee. The money is used to provide students with tickets to athletic events at the school.

During this academic year, Southeast has provided football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics tickets valued at more than $205,000. That is more than the $160,000 the athletic fee currently raises, Dobbins said.

The proposed fee hike would offset the lost revenue from student complimentary tickets. It also would help fund athletic department expenses for such items as team travel and replacement of uniforms, Dobbins said.