The Metro State Board of Trustees voted at its June 3 meeting to raise tuition $9.80 per credit hour for in-state students and $42.50 per credit hour for nonresident students. The increase will go into effect this fall 2009 semester.

Before the trustees voted unanimously to approve the increase, they had a lengthy discussion about the philosophy behind raising tuition, which was prompted by a draft of a policy statement regarding future tuition and fee increases that was brought forward to the board by the Finance Committee.

Trustee Ellen Robinson, who chairs the committee, wanted the board to discuss and potentially vote on releasing the statement to the media in tandem with the news of the tuition increase. The draft stated the board’s position on the importance of tuition in the current and future financing of the College (To read the draft statement, go to page 56 of the agenda: http://www.mscd.edu/trustees/meetings/20082009/agenda_060309.pdf.)

President Stephen Jordan pointed out that the trend in funding of higher education in the state is that the general fund as a percent of the overall operating budget is decreasing, while the percent of the budget from tuition is continually increasing. Currently, Metro State’s budget is about 40 percent general fund and 60 percent tuition, Jordan said.

“This statement begins to say that there is no way to escape tuition as a critical component to achieving our vision,” Jordan said.

Several trustees, however, were concerned enough about the statement that the trustees decided to add a discussion about tuition philosophy to the agenda for the board’s annual retreat in September, and therefore no vote was taken.

2009-10 operating budget
Vice President Natalie Lutes presented a proposed operating budget of nearly $154 million, based on the 9 percent tuition increase. While, the projected increase in enrollment this fall is 6 percent, Lutes used a more conservative figure for projected tuition revenue in building the budget.

Lutes reviewed the state fiscal situation leading up to the legislature's reducing Metro State’s base budget by nearly $10 million, then offsetting that with one-time federal stimulus money. (To read more, go to http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/artman/publish/townhall_twv6050709.shtml.)

Jordan said that institutions are handling the budget crisis in different ways, with some using the stimulus money to keep things status quo. “We think it’s better to take the cuts right now and use stimulus dollars to help us figure out how to operate effectively with less, so that we’re prepared for the permanent reduction in our base,” he said.

The proposed budget is subject to changes that may come following the June 20 release of state revenue projections. In the meantime, the $9.6 million in tier reductions have been or will be instituted. Among those reductions is the money to fund the faculty Pay for Performance (P4P) program. However, because the tuition revenue figure used is conservative, Chair Adele Phelan asked that the process for P4P be kept in place so that the College will be ready to move forward with the initiative, if the final figure allows the trustees to choose to reinstate the program.

Other news
The trustees ended the meeting by voting to award Interim Provost Linda Curran tenure as a professor of anthropology and by re-electing Adele Phelan as chair and Rob Cohen as vice chair.