UNIVERSITY GROUP FAVORS RISE IN FEES

Tuition at Southeast Missouri State University would be raised by $5 a credit hour and textbook rental fees would be hiked from $7 up to $9 a course under a plan endorsed by the university's Budget Committee.

The plan doesn't sit well with students, said K.C. Martin, Student Government president.

He said students were saddled with a tuition hike this fall and now tuition is being raised again for the spring and summer semesters. "The students are paying for it (revenue shortfalls) every time," said Martin.

The Budget Committee, comprising representatives of the campus community, made its recommendations Wednesday in an effort to deal with the latest round of state budget cuts.

Martin was one of two students who attended the committee's meeting. Martin said the committee approved the budget plan with only one dissenting vote. That vote was cast by the student representative on the committee. Martin attended the meeting, but did not have a vote.

The proposed budget moves are designed to make up for the $942,000 that is being withheld in state funding from an already scaled-back university budget.

Kenneth Dobbins, vice president for finance and administration at Southeast and chairman of the Budget Committee, said Thursday that the proposed budget moves will now be considered by the university administration. Final action rests with the Board of Regents, which is expected to consider the budget recommendations at its Oct. 11 meeting.

Increases in textbook rental and tuition charges, which would take effect this spring, are expected to raise $460,000 in new revenue for the university, Dobbins said. The tuition hike will raise about $400,000 in added revenue, while the hike in the textbook rental fee will generate another $60,000, he said.

Dobbins said the $5-a-credit-hour hike in incidental fees would mean that full-time, Missouri resident undergraduates at Southeast would pay $74 a credit hour or $60 more a semester.

Currently, in-state tuition for full-time students is $858 a semester, plus students must pay $25 in student activity and athletic fees. The tuition hike would mean full-time students would have to pay $943 a semester, including the $25 student fees.

For non-resident undergraduates, the $5-a-credit-hour hike means they would have to pay $134 per credit hour compared to the current $129 charge.

As to the textbook fee, Dobbins said the $2-a-course increase would include a cap of $45, which equals the cost to students taking five courses a semester.

He said university officials met Monday night with about 12 to 15 student leaders, including representatives of Student Government, to discuss the budget plan.

Martin said, "We're not real happy with it."

Dobbins said the fee hikes are expected to be permanent. But Martin questioned why such hikes must be permanent.

The Student Government president pointed out that Northwest Missouri State University has implemented a surcharge rather than a permanent tuition hike and has indicated that the surcharge will be removed if the funding situation improves.

"We understand the plight of the university," said Martin. "The money has to come from somewhere."

But he said there is no assurance the university won't be hit with another state funding cut next spring.

University officials, he said, have indicated that if that occurs, the university will have to further trim expenses.

"If there are always places to cut, why don't they cut them now," said Martin.

Students, he said, would rather do without some university services than pay significantly higher tuition.

With financial assistance for students already in place for this academic year, Martin said students must make do without any additional financial aid to compensate for a mid-year tuition hike.

In addition to the hike in tuition and textbook rental charges, the Budget Committee plan calls for the university to make up nearly $500,000 of the state funding cut by using carry-over funds from university departments and cutting expenses.

Dobbins said cuts in expenses would involve an extended hiring freeze. A hiring freeze was initiated earlier this year to deal with initial budget cuts. "It's already affected 53 positions," he said.

Those positions, he said, have been either eliminated, the positions left open or a part-time person has been hired for a position that previously was a full-time one.

"We still haven't laid off people," stressed Dobbins. "We have eliminated positions, but not asked people to leave."

The Budget Committee plan also calls for streamlining the summer sessions, and adopting energy conservation measures.

One of those measures calls for closing the campus for 16 days over the Christmas holiday, from Dec. 20 until Jan. 6.

"We will turn down the heat," said Dobbins, noting that every day the campus is shut down could save the university about $3,000 in energy costs. "Basically, the university will be closed." But, he added, there would be some exceptions.

For example, he said, the Show Me Center would remain open for the holiday basketball tournament.

"There are some residence hall concerns for people staying over the break," Dobbins added.

Martin said that one reason the student representative voted against the plan was that the energy conservation measure could prove a major inconvenience for international students who will be remaining on campus during the holiday break.

Martin said it was suggested at the Budget Committee meeting that international students may have to sleep on cots in the University Center during the Christmas break "because they would shut down their dorms."