Southeast may boost tuition cost to record

FINANCIAL EMERGENCY

By Mark Bliss ~ Southeast Missourian

Southeast Missouri State University may have to raise in-state tuition $15 a credit hour and out-of-state tuition by even more, as well as look at employee layoffs because of a $4 million cut in state funding for May and June, school officials said.

Any increase would come on the heels of the largest tuition boost in the school's history, when the Board of Regents voted in April to raise tuition by roughly 15 percent for in-state students and 12 percent for out-of-state students.

According to the April increase in tuition and fees, an in-state undergraduate student would pay $134.50 a credit hour fall semester, up $17 a credit hour from the current rate. An out-of-state undergraduate would pay $238 a credit hour, up $26 from this year.

Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents, said the $15-per-credit-hour figure for the upcoming spring and fall semesters is only an estimate at this stage.

"All we are doing is weighing our options," he said.

A tuition increase is one of the issues expected to be discussed when the regents meet on June 12 to address the school's financial woes.

The latest funding crunch is part of a series of state budget cuts that have hit Southeast and other public colleges over the past 12 months.

The 60 percent funding cut for May and June could still go higher if Gov. Bob Holden withholds the entire June payment for Southeast and other public colleges. It could be mid-June before schools learn if they will get that final payment for fiscal 2002, which ends June 30.

If that happens, Southeast could be faced with another $1.3 million funding cut on top of the $4 million figure, school officials said.

Forcing furloughs

Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast president, said it amounts to a financial emergency, one that will wipe out the university's $2.9 million rainy day fund and force furloughs of some employees for at least two to three days.

"We will ask for voluntary leave without pay," Dobbins said.

Furloughing non-faculty positions could save $75,000 to $80,000 a day, Dobbins said. Other cost-cutting moves also are likely, he said.

Bill Eddleman, a biology professor and past president of the Faculty Senate, said it would be difficult to furlough faculty during the summer because most are on nine-month contracts that end at the close of the spring semester.

Eddleman, who served on the university's Budget Review Committee this past school year, said the committee and the school administration had worked hard to keep money in the rainy day fund in the face of budget cuts so there would be money available for another budget emergency.

But Eddleman and others didn't expect that fund to be depleted so soon.

Dickerson said the university likely will have to raise student fees to help build back the rainy day fund.

"All of our emergency funds are gone," he said.

Dickerson said the board also will have to consider layoffs.

But Eddleman said he hopes the university won't have to eliminate faculty positions because it would put Southeast at a disadvantage in hiring faculty in nationwide job searches.

Dobbins plans to outline the financial options at two meetings on May 31, one with the Budget Review Committee and the other with the Faculty Senate.

Faculty policies require university officials to meet with the Faculty Senate and demonstrate that an emergency exists before declaring a financial crisis and ordering any layoffs, Dobbins said.

Dickerson said the regents also may look to close some of the outlying higher education centers one day a week to lessen costs.

Dobbins said some academic and non-academic programs might have to be cut. Southeast may have to reduce custodial cleaning of campus buildings, he said.

Southeast, he said, plans to continue to delay hirings, leaving positions vacant for four months to save money.

Historical increase

An increase of $15 a credit hour would come on the heels of the largest increase in tuition in school history, which the regents approved in April to help make up for a $6 million funding shortfall from previous state budget cuts.

At that time, regents raised per-credit-hour tuition by $17 for in-state undergraduates and $20.50 for in-state graduate students. The regents increased credit-hour costs for out-of-state undergraduates by $25 and out-of-state graduate students by $30.

Ronald Supit, a graduate student from Indonesia, said another tuition increase would make it harder for international students who typically go to school year-round and pay hefty travel expenses just to get to Cape Girardeau.

"I am paying my own way" he said. "It is going to hurt a lot."

Supit said if costs increase too much, he and other international students might be forced to leave Southeast. "The worst option is going back home," he said.

SEMO's student government opposed the earlier fee increases.

Ross McFerron, student government president, said a new round of increases could price some students out of a college education.

McFerron said the university needs to look at cutting costs campuswide, including in athletics. But he said some type of tuition increase appears almost certain.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123