SEMO CONSIDERS DORM RATE HIKES

Southeast Missouri State University students can expect to pay more to live on campus next school year.

The university's Board of Regents will consider raising room and board charges as well as tuition and other fees when it meets Wednesday. The regents will meet at 10:30 a.m. in the University Center Ballroom.

A non-scholarship, undergraduate student living in campus housing and taking 24 credit-hours over two semesters would pay $6,697 to $7,797 next school year, under the proposed fee increases.

Also on the agenda is the awarding of a new food service contract.

Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president, said details of a new, multi-year contract won't be disclosed until after the regents have discussed the issue behind closed doors.

The regents are expected to go into closed session in the middle of Wednesday's meeting and then reconvene in open session to vote on the food service contract.

Southeast wants to raise room and board charges by varying amounts, depending on the residency hall and the number of meals.

Room and board charges for campus housing would raise more than $7.8 million in the next academic year, school officials said.

Room charges are expected to generate the bulk of the revenue, some $5 million from an estimated 1,660 students living in campus dorms.

The majority of that money, some $3.1 million, is expected to come from students living in the Towers complex, four high-rise buildings that can accommodate more than 1,000 students.

Counting other revenue, such as fees charged for summer camps, the university proposes to take in and spend $8.7 million next school year to operate 10 residence halls and two off-campus apartment buildings.

Residence hall operations annually are designed to break even, school officials said.

Southeast students have become resigned to annual fee hikes.

"Although they don't like to pay more, they are pretty understanding," said Amy Yaeger.

Yaeger, student government treasurer, is one of three students on Southeast's budget review committee.

"Costs go up every year. I think students understand that," she said. "They understand that to be competitive, we do need to improve things."

Students realize they can't have campus improvements without fee increases, she said.

Yaeger is from Mount Vernon, Ill. Although a senior, she has another year to go in school.

She said Southeast's out-of-state fees are comparable to in-state fees at many Illinois schools.

"It is a pretty good deal for a good education," she said.

For some students, university housing costs won't be going up.

No increase in rent has been proposed for students living in the university's two apartment buildings in the 400 block of Washington. The two buildings have a total of 19 apartments, which combined bring in more than $67,000 a year in rent.

Monthly rent ranges from $260 for a one-bedroom, efficiency apartment to $345 for a two-bedroom, top-floor apartment with balcony.

The proposed room increase ranges from a high of 17.6 percent for three newly renovated fraternity and sorority buildings in the Greek housing complex to a low of 5.33 percent for students in Towers North and West residence halls.

Increased room charges for Greek and Towers residence halls are designed partly to recover recent renovation costs, school officials said.

Varying meal plans will cost the students 3 percent more, school officials said.

For students with the typical 15-meal-a-week plan, combined room and board charges for next academic year would range from a low of $4,087 for those living in Dearmont to a high of $5,187 for those living in the renovated Towers North and West residence halls.

That's an increase of $177 for Dearmont students and $227 a year for those living in the renovated Towers dorms.

Dobbins said average room and board costs will increase from $4,080 a year to $4,267, a 4.6 percent hike.

Southeast also plans to charge students a new $15 a semester fee to help fund residence hall activities.

In the past, residence hall programming was budgeted strictly as an operational expense with no corresponding fee, Dobbins said.

The new fee will generate nearly $50,000 a year.