State plan to freeze tuition blocked

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- With one son already in college and another soon to follow, Denise Lincoln of Cape Girardeau says a legislative effort to lock in tuition costs for Missouri residents attending state universities "would be a dream come true."

However, legislation to do so appears to be dead, despite having been endorsed by a Senate committee.

Lincoln hopes the bill enjoys a revival. Her son, Dane, is a freshman at the University of Missouri-St. Louis while her younger son, Drew, a junior at Cape Girardeau Central High School, hopes to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"It would help a lot with planning," said Lincoln. "It's just kind of like rolling the dice right now not knowing what you will be paying from year to year."

In response to dramatic jumps in tuition due to cutbacks in taxpayer subsidies for public higher education institutions, state Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler, sponsored a bill that would ensure resident students paid the same amount of annual tuition as a senior that they did as a freshman. Seniors at Missouri's four-year public universities are paying anywhere from 28 percent to nearly 60 percent more this year, depending on the school they attend, than they did in their first year.

Although the Senate Education Committee approved the measure on Feb. 5, state Sen. Bill Foster, the panel's chairman, said Friday that he doesn't intend to forward it to the full Senate, a move that effectively blocks the bill from being considered further.

Foster said he was concerned about the impact it would have on Southeast Missouri State University's ability to cover costs.

"It would cost the university maybe $40 or $50 million, so we probably won't be able to help Harold on that bill," said Foster, R-Poplar Bluff.

In responding to a fiscal impact request on the bill, Southeast officials said it would cost the university $15 million in lost revenue in the first year. Over several years, the estimated annual impact would rise to the range Foster cited.

Officials at other universities couldn't even hazard a guess as the costs they would incur. The Department of Higher Education's response said it could have a "significant but unquantifiable negative impact" on colleges and universities.

Southeast president Dr. Ken Dobbins said that establishing cost certainty for students and their parents would be beneficial but could only realistically occur if the state provided additional funding to offset losses to universities. Considering Missouri's ongoing budget difficulties, that is something lawmakers likely aren't inclined -- or even able -- to do.

"If you don't have an underlying increase in appropriations, you are then going to force universities to cut quality, and that would be problematic," Dobbins said. "The concept is a good concept, but it doesn't have the other piece."

Dobbins said Southeast implemented similar system in the 1980s to control students' costs for living in university housing. That pricing scheme has long since been abandoned.

"It almost bankrupt the residence hall system," Dobbins said.

While upperclassmen enjoyed a relatively low fixed rate, the increased costs of operating the residence halls were passed on to incoming freshmen, Dobbins said. If the concept were applied to tuition, he predicted the result would be similar.

New students only

Under Caskey's bill, schools could still increase tuition but increases would only apply to new students.

A senior at Southeast this year pays $1,185 more in tuition and mandatory fees than they did as a freshmen in the 2000-2001 school year. Even so, Southeast's 35 percent growth in tuition during that period is third lowest among Missouri's 13 four-year public institutions.

Missouri Southern State University in Joplin raised its tuition by 59.3 percent in that span, although its current tuition of $3,976 a year remains the lowest among state schools.

On Friday, that school's board of governors agreed to freeze tuition. University president Julio Leon said the administration felt the upcoming year's freeze would be possible because Gov. Bob Holden has estimated the school would receive $20.3 million in state aid, the amount appropriated this fiscal year before cuts were ordered.

Truman State University in Kirksville has increased tuition by 28.1 percent since the 2000-2001 term for the smallest growth rate in the state.

The bill is SB 780.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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