House, Senate pass tuition bill

Despite budget cuts, Nixon wants to keep MU tuition constant.

By Krissy Tripp

Published April 17, 2009

The Missouri legislature has voted to finalize an agreement between Gov. Jay Nixon and leaders of state colleges and universities to maintain funding and tuition levels.

The proposal was to keep state higher education budget appropriations at the same level if Missouri public colleges and universities agreed not to raise tuition rates for fiscal year 2010.

The budget bills passed through the House and Senate, but the two chambers will hold a conference to decide on final figures.

The only senator to vote "no" on the bill Wednesday was Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City.

Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said the governor is optimistic about the agreement working.

"The governor believes there have been positive steps on his plan by the universities as well as the General Assembly," Holste said.

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, said he thinks the House and Senate appropriations for higher education were similar. The chambers are likely to meet next week.

"We'll go to conference and figure that out," Kelly said.

The UM system Board of Curators voted to keep tuition the same as this year for the 2009-2010 academic year.

"Of course the proposal to keep tuition flat was based on the assumption that the legislature would give the university system a flat appropriation based on the 2009 fiscal levels," said Tony Luetkemeyer, student representative to the Board of Curators.

UM system President Gary Forsee said the UM system will continue to support Nixon's plan by upholding their end of the pact. If the legislative bodies maintain higher education funding, UM will maintain tuition levels.

"Now that the House and Senate have each taken action, we look forward to seeing the General Assembly finalize its plans as part of the state's budget process," Forsee said in a prepared statement.

Luetkemeyer said the board is thrilled they don't have to make the same budget decisions they were originally looking at before Nixon announced his proposal.

"We were looking at 15 to 20 percent cuts to the universities' appropriation," Luetkemeyer said.

According to a news release from Nixon's office, tuition has increased an average of 7.5 percent each year in the past decade. In-state MU students will pay about $8,500 in tuition this year, and if tuition were to increase at the given rate of 7.5 percent next year, students would be paying more than $9,100 for tuition next year.

Nationally, tuition is expected to increase at a rate of 8 to 10 percent, Holste said.

Nixon believes affordable education is necessary for Missouri's economic difficulties, Holste said.

"Governor Nixon believes if we're going to get the economy back on track we need to have the workforce ready for good-paying jobs," Holste said. "If we create jobs then the state's economic picture will look much brighter."

Holste said Nixon cut about 1,300 state employees and funding for services he didn't deem essential to serve the needs of Missourians.

"Funding for public universities is remaining the same in a year when many budget cuts are being made due to the economic situation," Holste said.