Cutting tuition

Students -- and, in many cases, check-writing parents -- who have watched college tuition prices shoot up and explode in recent years received a bit of a reprieve last week when the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents decreased tuition by $2 per credit hour beginning with the spring semester.

The decision kept a promise the regents made last winter to cut tuition if state funding to the university increased for the next fiscal year. It did so by about $1 million. The pledge was made at a time when the university was raising tuition again to offset the state budget cuts that have affected higher education in recent years.

Tuition and fees for the spring semester at Southeast will range from $160.50 per credit hour for in-state undergraduates to $331.80 for out-of-state graduate students. The range was $113 to $234 five years ago.

The regents also ended the financial emergency they declared two years ago. That declaration allowed the school to make some cost-cutting changes to streamline university operations.

The increase in state funding and the decrease in tuition are positive signs for university students and faculty alike.