Colin M. Hill and Theo Keith / KCOU News / Nov. 18, 2009
COLUMBIA — Gov. Jay Nixon spoke on the MU campus Wednesday on his plan to keep in-state undergraduate students’ tuition steady next year.
Nixon, speaking at the Reynolds Alumni Center, said higher education is the best way Missourians can stay competitive in the job market, and a tuition freeze would allow more students to afford college. The proposal doesn’t freeze tuition for out-of-state students, who make up about a quarter of MU’s student population.
If approved by each public school’s governing board and the General Assembly when lawmakers return to session this January, it would be the second straight year for the tuition freeze. In return for holding tuition steady, Nixon pledged to maintain nearly 95 percent of state appropriations for the state’s higher education institutions next year.
It’s a break from this year, when Nixon and the schools made a more direct agreement: No appropriations decrease if schools froze tuition. The move to decrease appropriations by 5.2 percent is a response to the state’s budget crisis, the worst in years.
State revenues in October fell 10 percent, and revenues have been far less than expected the past year. So far this year, Nixon has slashed more than $600 million from the state’s budget, and more cuts look to be on the way, administration officials have said. That means state schools, including MU, may see deeper cuts than what were announced Wednesday.
As of now, in-state MU undergraduates pay about $245 per credit hour, while out-of-state students pay about $615 per credit hour. In addition to not affecting out-of-state tuition, the freeze also doesn’t curtain student fees, although MU Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Cathy Scroggs has said those won’t increase next year other than providing for inflation.
Prior to this year’s freeze, tuition had been increasing at about a 7.5 percent per year rate, officials have said.
Last updated: 11:05 a.m. Nov. 18, 2009
