UM curators approve tuition and fee increases

ROLLA, Mo. -- Tuition at the four University of Missouri campuses will increase by 5 percent starting this summer.

Curators on Friday unanimously approved the increase, requested by system President Elson Floyd, during a meeting at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

The hike will add $324 to yearly base tuition for in-state undergraduates, with those costs going from $6,495 to $6,819 for a student taking 15 credit hours per semester. Graduate tuition will also increase by 5 percent.

Actual out-of-pocket costs for many students will rise further, with curators also approving a range of increases for student fees and campus housing. Those increases range from 2 percent for student fees at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to a nearly 12 percent boost in the room and board plan at the St. Louis campus.

The changes are contingent on state lawmakers approving a fiscal year 2007 budget that includes the 2 percent funding increase for higher education proposed by Gov. Matt Blunt, after several years of stagnant funding or outright cuts.

"I thank the governor for renewing the investment ... that should be made for higher education in our state," Floyd told curators.

Since 1993, tuition for in-state students at the four campuses increased an average of 8.3 percent annually. Those increases included a 14.8 percent jump in 2002 and a 19.8 percent jump in 2003.

At the same time, state support for the four campuses was reduced by a total of $148 million over the past five years.

Absent from Friday's agenda was any discussion of the search for a new men's basketball coach at the Columbia campus, as well as any talk of the recently concluded inquiry into the role played by athletic director Mike Alden in ex-coach Quin Snyder's resignation.

Snyder has said Alden dispatched Tiger radio broadcaster Gary Link, an Alden assistant, to deliver an ultimatum with six games remaining in the season: Quit now or be fired later.

Alden denied that account, and an external review ordered by Floyd stopped short of verifying the former coach's account.

Alden's handling of the situation led to speculation that curators would seek a more active role in athletics oversight and perhaps threaten his job security.

But by 2:30 p.m. Friday, nearly six hours into the second day of a two-day meeting, there was no such discussion -- and none scheduled.

The nine curators, who are political appointees, also have no plans to take an active role in hiring Snyder's replacement, said Curator Don Walsworth, a prominent basketball booster who helped lure Snyder to Missouri from Duke.

"That's a campus matter," he said.

Walsworth's assurance likely won't eliminate further speculation, though.

Curators were scheduled to go behind closed doors later Friday to consider "certain personnel, property, litigation and contract items," which are exempted from public discussion under the state's open meetings laws.