SEMO students face cost increase

Southeast Missouri State University wants to raise tuition and general fees for in-state students taking classes on its main campus by more than $15 a credit hour for the coming school year.

The increase of more than 5 percent would raise the total cost to $199 a credit hour for in-state undergraduates, or $2,388 for 12 credit hours, school officials said Wednesday.

The cost would be even higher for nonresident undergraduates, who would be faced with paying more than $345 a credit hour starting this fall, an increase of more than $24 a credit hour.

University president Dr. Ken Dobbins said the fee increases are needed to pay rising expenses, some of them resulting from the scheduled opening of the new River Campus arts school.

Southeast is faced with added costs of more than $800,000 for utilities, $562,000 for insurance and $250,000 for minimum-wage labor, Dobbins said.

The added utility expenses are expected to be divided equally between the main campus and the River Campus. While the River Campus has fewer buildings, the cost of electricity will be higher because it will be provided by AmerenUE rather than the university's main-campus power plant, school officials said.

The proposed fee increases include a new $2-a-credit-hour cultural arts fee to help fund operations at the new River Campus School of Visual and Performing Arts.

Dobbins said the new fee would generate about $400,000 toward the estimated $1.4 million annual operating cost of the new campus. Funding reallocations at the university and revenue projected from increased enrollment are expected to pay the bulk of the annual expenses, officials said.

Southeast's board of regents will consider approving the fee plan at its meeting Friday at the River Campus. The meeting, the first public session on the new arts campus overlooking the Mississippi River, is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. in the music recital hall.

Dobbins said the proposed cultural arts fee would benefit students. Under the plan, they would be able to attend all student performances at the River Campus at "no charge" and pay half-price to attend any touring show, he said.

But students at the University Center on Wednesday objected to the proposed fee increases, particularly the new cultural arts fee.

Amy Malpocker, a sophomore from St. Louis, said she will get little benefit out of paying the cultural arts fee. According to Malpocker, many students won't attend theater, dance or music events at the River Campus.

"The entire campus is paying for something that not all students will use," she said.

Malpocker said the fee plan will make the university less affordable and less attractive to potential students. Still, she and other students say they'll have to live with the plan. "We don't really have a choice," she said.

Christine Schlueter, a sophomore from St. Louis sitting across a cafeteria table from Malpocker, agreed. "You pretty much have to accept it," she said.

Joshua Russell, a junior from DeSoto, Mo., said the university was "getting fee happy."

The university seems committed to raising fees "any way to get more money," said student Graeme Bray. A senior from Wildwood, Mo., Bray said he's glad he is graduating this year and won't be saddled with the extra cost.

Even with the increases, officials said, student fees at Southeast would be lower than those at Missouri State, Northwest Missouri State, Central Missouri State, Truman State, Arkansas State and Murray State universities, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and the University of Missouri's Columbia and St. Louis campuses.

Dobbins has recommended keeping tuition at the current $114 a credit hour on its Bootheel campuses in Sikeston, Malden and Kennett for lower-division courses, but increasing the general fee at those campuses by $8.50 per credit hour. That would raise tuition and general fees to more than $127 a credit hour.

Dobbins said the lower fees are justified because the regional campuses have lower utility costs. Many of the courses at the Bootheel campuses are taught by adjunct faculty who receive lower compensation than full-time faculty, he said. Also, most of the students attending the outlying education centers don't use the services and facilities on the main campus, Dobbins said.

"Most of them are nontraditional, part-time students who are working," Dobbins said.

Students like Russell question why Bootheel center students should get such a financial break.

"That is ridiculous," he said, adding that the decision doesn't rest with the students. "We can't vote on it. We have no say on it," Russell said.

The tuition increase for in-state students would exceed a new tuition cap for public colleges in Missouri as part of a higher education bill given final approval by the legislature earlier this week. If signed by the governor, the measure wouldn't take effect until August.

Dobbins said the state regulation of tuition increases would start with the 2008-2009 school year.

Had the measure already taken effect, Dobbins said Southeast would have had to seek a waiver from the Missouri Department of Higher Education to implement such a fee increase. That's because the cap would tie increases to the consumer price index. The CPI currently reflects about a 2 percent increase in inflation, Dobbins said.

Starting in the 2008-2009 school year, Southeast and other schools would have to forfeit 5 percent of their state funding if they exceeded the tuition cap and were unable to obtain waivers, according to Senate Bill 389.

Southeast officials project overall university expenses will rise by more than $3.9 million in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. Pay raises of 3 percent on average for faculty and staff are expected to account for more than $2 million of the added cost, officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123