By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri universities will receive a 3% increase in their core budgets under the $52 billion state budget approved by the legislature.
That isn’t enough to stave off a tuition increase at Missouri Western State University.
Missouri Western President, Elizabeth Kennedy, says the St. Joseph campus receives about 33% of its budget from the state. Its share of that increase will run between $700,000 and $800,000, much less than its peer institutions.
“Institution that have fewer students than we do get significantly more in core (funding),” Kennedy tells KFEQmmunity. “You know, it’s challenging. I use this example and I love Sue Thomas, who’s the president of Truman (State University), but Truman gets about $24 million more than we do for a core appropriation and they have fewer students.”
Kennedy says efforts to change the formula have been attempted in the state legislature, but have gone nowhere.
Kennedy says inflation is outpacing the growth in state appropriations. She says fixed costs at the university has grown by $6 million since Fiscal Year 2022.
Kennedy says Missouri Western has been left with no choice but to raise tuition.
“We’re looking at another 7 ½% increase in tuition. But our tuition is so low that with the tuition and mandatory fees that’s only a $25 an hour, credit hour, increase. Seven and a half percent is $25. That’s a reasonable increase,” Kennedy says. “And I think, unfortunately, with what’s going for our appropriations, we’re left no alternative.”
Simply put, Kennedy says the money flowing from Jefferson City to the St. Joseph campus cannot make up for the increased cost of running a university.
“Think about your own household. What’s gone up for you? I bet your insurance has gone up. Our property insurance has gone up. I bet your utilities have gone up. Our utilities have gone up,” Kennedy says. “So, it’s just the basic things that we can’t control.”
Kennedy says Missouri Western doesn’t want to add to a student’s burden.
“It is a tricky balance between how do we look at tuition? How do we look at the state appropriations? And then, also, we’ve been doing things to diversify our revenue streams, because we have to,” Kennedy says. “And we hadn’t done that as a university before.”
Kennedy does say the Missouri Western Foundation has been providing more and more money for scholarships.
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