Senate bill freezes tuition indefinitely

By Todd Fuller

As the saying goes, “hindsight is 20/20.” With that in mind, several universities in Missouri are probably regretting the decision to not raise tuition before Senate Bill 389 (SB 389) was voted into law.

As it stands right now, the Western Board of Governors elected to record the consumer price index [CPI] raise for tuition but not collect the $5.53 per credit hour the increase would generate.

According to Dr. Robert Vartabedian, president of Missouri Western State University, there is no sunset clause for the bill which has essentially frozen tuition for in-state undergraduates indefinitely.

“We certainly wish there was an end to it,” Vartabedian said. “It’s tied our hands considerably.”

Tuition is not technically frozen and can be increased according to Vartabedian; however, a university wishing to pursue an increase will have to seek a waiver to raise tuition. If the waiver isn’t approved, then the university could still pursue an increase by incurring a penalty to do so.

Mel Klinkner, vice president for financial planning and administration, isn’t exactly elated about the current state of the budget, but he was certainly glad the reductions didn’t deepen over the summer during additional state budget cuts.

“We were glad it wasn’t any more than that (the current 5.2% reduction), it was very difficult already without a tuition increase,” Klinkner said.

According to a news release from Western, tuition for out-of-state undergraduate students and graduate students are not subject to SB 389 or the agreement with the governor, and the board voted in May to raise rates for those students. Tuition for out-of-state undergraduate students will go up $16.15 per credit hour, in-state graduate tuition will go up $35.30 per credit hour and out-of-state graduate tuition will go up $105.60 per credit hour

The tuition changes for graduate students and out-of-state undergraduate students will generate approximately $125,000.

These types of increases will most likely become more common place and cause these students to bear more of the financial burden than they are accustomed.

Klinkner said the last CPI increase was implemented in fall of 2008 and was 4.32 %, the latest CPI increase would have generated about $600,000 for Western and helped offset the $1.2 million reduction they are currently facing in state appropriations.

Many question the effectiveness of SB 389 especially in light of the current downturn in the economy.

“I know there’s been some talk about it (SB 389) not really doing what it was intended to do, but I haven’t heard anymore about getting it off of the books,” Vartabedian said.

Bear in mind that the CPI increase was recorded and that increase will eventually be collected, this is all a result of the agreement between the governor and the college and university presidents and chancellors.

“We agreed that in addition to tuition not being increased we wouldn’t implement the CPI, it would be recorded but not collected,” Vartabedian said. “The next cycle (fall 2011) would be when that would be realized, assuming other deals are not struck with the governor.”