MISSOURI TRIES TO HOLD DOWN COLLEGE COSTS

If there's one thing everyone knows~ about higher education, it's that the cost is going up. From every corner of the state come reports of tuition and fees being raised to a level that threatens to price higher education out of reach. It seems that no bad news travels farther or faster than oversimplified accounts of "skyrocketing" college costs.

The numbers tell a quite different story. They show that access to a university is not necessarily denied or guaranteed by high or low fees. One must couple financial aid with fees to determine how accessible an institution can be.

In 1992 dollars, the Missouri median family income in 1963-64 was $25,382, and University of Missouri college costs were $4,237. That translates into 16.7 percent of family income. In 1991-92, the state's median family income was $33,009, and college costs were $5,423 or 16.4 percent of family income. In other words, the cost of attending the University of Missouri, as a percentage of income, has slightly decreased since 1963-64.

The university has more than kept pace with financial aid trends over the past three decades. In 1963-64, UM students were awarded a total of $7.2 million in financial aid ($347 a student); by 1991-92, that figure had reached $128 million ($3,122 a student). The aid per Missouri student has gone up 799.7 percent! Now we can talk about "skyrockets."

Meanwhile, the level of financial aid generated solely by the University of Missouri not the federal government or other agencies has done nothing but rise. In 1963-64, the university provided virtually no financial aid in its own budget. Using 1992 dollars, we provided a little more than $5 million by 1975-76, or about 6.2 percent of total student fees. By 1991-92, institutional financial aid topped $22 million or 16.1 percent of fee income.

Also, the entire financial-aid system has tilted away from merit-based standards toward providing students a college education based on need. In 1963-64, merit-based funding constituted 79.1 percent of all financial aid; only 20.9 percent was need-based. By 1991-92, the tables had been turned. About 68 percent of all financial aid is now need-based, with only about 32 percent merit-based. So financial aid is awarded primarily with access as a goal.

If we put all this together family income minus college costs plus aid per student we find that the net cost of attending the University of Missouri, as a percentage of family income, actually has fallen to 7 percent of median family income from 15.3 percent since 1963-64.

Most Missourians are probably aware of two major events concerning higher education in our state. The first is that Proposition B, a ballot issue designed to provide more tax money for education, failed miserably. The second is that the University of Missouri plans to raise its tuition over five years. The two events are linked, although not as directly as one might assume.

The University of Missouri must live with the funding made available to it from the state. That, if anything, is the lesson of Proposition B. Of our approximately $900 million in expenditures, about 34 percent comes from the state, and only 18 percent from student fees. As we seek to maintain quality, and to improve it where we can, we are refocusing our existing dollars on the programs that we consider most vital.

Just as we expect to improve the university, we also expect students to carry a larger portion of the cost. Every student who steps on any of our four campuses automatically receives a $7,600 subsidy from the state. Each student then can expect to pay, on average, about 25 percent of the actual costs of education. Under our five-year plan for tuition and fees, the University of Missouri will raise that figure to about 33 percent. Still, the board's plan for fees stipulates that 20 percent of the new revenue will go directly back into student aid, keeping the doors open for students with greater financial need. In fact, total student financial aid now exceeds total tuition and fee income at the university.

University of Missouri rates, fee increases and all, will actually remain below national averages. The public institutions in the Association of American Universities, of which we are a member, average $2,854 in undergraduate tuition and fees this academic year. Tuition and fees at the University of Missouri are $2,812. In the three years to come, our fees will be going up, but so will theirs. Most of the public AAU schools also receive more per capita state support for higher education Missouri is 46th in that category. We have held fees below those of some schools that receive much more state funding than we do.

It's true that we'll expect more of our students financially. It's equally true that they will be able to expect more of us as we build on the quality of the institution. Both students and the state will get what they pay for, and the only thing to "skyrocket" will be the level of service the University of Missouri provides.

George A. Russell is president of the University of Missouri.