SOUTHEAST STUDENT FEES ESCALATE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Students will be paying substantially more in incidental fees and room and board charges at Southeast Missouri State University as a result of action taken by the Board of Regents Friday.

Combined, tuition and room and board fees for many beginning students at Southeast will total more than $4,500 for the 1991-92 academic year, or about a $500 increase over combined fall and spring semester fees for the current academic year.

The new tuition charges take effect with the start of the summer session in May. The new room and board charges will take effect at the start of the fall semester, university officials said at Friday's meeting.

University officials said the fee hikes are unavoidable at a time when Southeast is facing budgetary woes as a result of tight state finances.

Full-time Missouri undergraduates at Southeast, those taking 12 to 16 hours a semester, will be paying $113 more in tuition or incidental fees, while non-resident undergraduates will see their incidental fees increase by $133.

Missouri graduate students attending fulltime will pay $175 more, while non-resident graduates will pay an additional $245.

Full-time Missouri undergraduates at Southeast will pay $858 a semester, an increase of more than 15 percent over the current fee of $745; full-time Missouri graduate students will pay $930 a semester, a 23 percent hike.

Non-resident undergraduates attending fulltime will pay $1,578 a semester, a 9.2 percent hike over the current fee of $1,445; full-time non-resident graduate students will pay $1,710 a semester, a hike of 16.7 percent over the current tuition charge of $1,465.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, said the tuition hike may be "the biggest dollar amount" increase in the institution's history.

Betty Fulton, vice president of business and finance at Southeast, said the tuition hike will raise about $1.5 million in new revenue for the institution for the 1992 fiscal year.

"Incidental fees are no longer incidental. They've become very high," said Fulton.

In addition to the tuition hike, the cost of a dormitory room will go up by $225 for the 1991-92 school year, although returning residence-hall students won't be paying any increase.

The new room fee amounts to $1,785 for the academic year.

The university will continue to offer "no room increase" contracts to students currently living in the campus dormitories, but the regents said future contracts, beginning with incoming students for the 1991-92 school year, would carry no such guarantee.

"We simply have to discontinue that practice," said Southeast President Kala Stroup, noting that such a practice results in "front loading costs" onto freshmen students.

Board rates will be increased by 5 percent, which will amount to an increase of from $45 to $55 for all students receiving on-campus meals, depending on the meal plan chosen. The university has meal plans ranging from 5 to 20 meals a week.

Residence-hall students will pay $1,040 for a 20-meal plan instead of the current $990, university officials pointed out.

The total room and board fees for incoming freshmen and other students with new housing contracts would amount to a maximum of $2,825 for the 1991-92 school year, a 10.8 percent hike over the maximum room and board fee of $2,550 for the current school year, officials said.

The regents agreed to the administration's request to increase the cost of a credit hour at Southeast by $6 for the 1991-92 academic year. Incidental fees are determined on the basis of credit hours.

Effective with the start of the summer session in May, the credit hour charge for a Missouri resident undergraduate will increase from $63 to $69. A Missouri graduate student will see the charge increase from $69 to $75.

Undergraduates from out of state will be charged $129 per credit hour instead of the current $123, and graduate students from other states will pay $140 instead of $134 per credit hour.

The hourly rates apply to students taking from one to 12 credit hours per semester. Students may take 13 to 16 hours for the same price as 12. The rates go up for those taking more than 16 credit hours.

The regents approved the various fee hikes with little comment.

Stroup said the university faces a 2 percent decrease in its state appropriation and a zero increase in its net state funding for the 1992 fiscal year, based on the budget recommendation of Gov. John Ashcroft.

The university's only new revenue will come from the increase in incidental fees, the president said.

Room and board charges are used to help pay the cost of operating the dormitories and providing meals for students. That revenue is not considered a part of the university's general budget, explained Wallhausen.

University officials said the increased revenue from incidental fees would not produce enough revenue to compensate for a more than $2 million increase in the cost of continuing present operations for the coming fiscal year due to inflation and other factors.

Without any increase in tuition fees, Stroup said, the university would have been faced with "a $2 million deficit."

University officials said part of that cost is an anticipated 25 percent increase in health insurance expenses.

But even with the tuition increase, and if all salaries were frozen at current levels, Stroup said the university still faces a $1 million deficit in building its budget for the coming fiscal year.

University officials estimate it will cost more than $48.5 million just to continue with existing operations in the 1992 fiscal year.

In a prepared statement, Stroup said that while actual budget decisions have not yet been finalized, it appears Southeast will have to deal with the budget problem by further reducing programs, cutting operating budgets and possibly eliminating positions.