Curators vote on tuition, coach’s pay

Posted to On Campus by Josh Barone at 1:18 p.m., April 3, 2009

The UM system Board of Curators continued its two-day meeting today, where it voted on tuition and fees for the 2009-2010 school year. The board also voted to approve a seven-year contract with MU basketball coach Mike Anderson.

Vice chairwoman Judy Haggard presided over the meeting, which was held at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

At a press conference held immediately after the board’s executive session, Forsee said the board passed Anderson’s contract unanimously. The seven-year contract allows for a $1.35 million annual salary, Forsee said. Anderson’s previous salary was $855,000 annually.

The Maneater has reported on Anderson’s intentions to remain at MU.

“We had a program that is doing it right the way,” Forsee said. “We have a coach that is incredibly well respected. He wants to make the university his home for a long period.”

Forsee said the university’s athletic budget is about $60 million, but a very small amount of that comes from state funding.

“It receives $2.2 million from the system, a bulk of which is to provide debt service,” Forsee said.

Anderson’s salary largely comes from the athletic department’s revenue from ticket and merchandise sales, Forsee said, so his raise is not related to the UM system’s hiring freeze and budget shortfalls.

Forsee said Anderson’s contract benefits both the university and the state.

“When you have a coach that’s performing in a program that has significantly improved, then you want to do what you can to keep your own,” Forsee said. “Whether it’s a well performing coach or faculty member, we’ve got to find a way to support them.”

To retain and recruit faculty, the university’s spending should allow for a funding reserve, Forsee said.

“We shouldn’t run our budget so tight we can’t do this,” he said.

The board also voted to not increase tuition and fees for the 2009-2010 school year, as part of a deal with Gov. Jay Nixon. In exchange for the university keeping tuition at the 2009 level, Nixon promised to recommend no cuts to the higher education budget for the next fiscal year.

“That will certainly be a cornerstone of the governor’s budget,” Forsee said. “I’m very confident that provision will sustain through the budget process.”

The board’s decision is contingent on whether the Missouri legislature approves Nixon’s budget.

“At this time I have a fair amount of confidence the governor will convey to the Senate to protect our funding level that will allow us to hold up our end of the bargain,” Forsee said. “There’s no reason we wouldn’t expect things to not pass at the Senate level.”

In the event there are cuts to higher education funding, Forsee said the university has taken precautionary steps to constrain expenses.

“We have 545 open positions today,” Forsee said. “So we’re doing whatever we can to hold back and accrue savings in case the economy doesn’t turn around.”

Forsee said with the money-saving measures already in place, the university could operate in 2010 if there were higher education funding cuts.

“We have built up, if you will, a reserve,” he said.