Jackson Free Press

The state College Board approved tuition increases for Mississippi's eight public universities at a meeting this morning. The increases, which will take place over two years, are necessary to offset current and anticipated budget cuts, state Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds said.

"As a person who really had to struggle to pay for college, it's painful (for me) to ask for tuition increases," Bounds said. "We have prepared for the worst, and now it's time to pray for the best."

The increases range from 4.5 percent--in both 2011 and 2012--at Mississippi Valley State University, to 9 percent in both years at Delta State University and Jackson State University.

When Bounds recommended the tuition increases to the board at a meeting Thursday, he explained that they were based on an anticipated 10 percent budget cut for this fiscal year. The state's higher education budget is currently 8 percent below its original figure, following cuts announced by Gov. Haley Barbour Jan. 22, but Bounds warned that deeper cuts may still be on the way.

At today's meeting, Bounds told Board members that uncertainty about the state's budget means that the tuition increases are still provisional.

"If the appropriations picture is better, then we would have the opportunity to reduce the amount of tuition that we're asking for," Bounds said. "However, if the appropriation is at a lower level than we projected, then we would reserve the opportunity to come back to the board and make additional cuts and tuition increases."

He added that even with the hikes, tuition at all Mississippi public universities was still lower than the average for peer institutions in the South. With the projected increases, tuition at the University of Mississippi would still be 25 percent cheaper in 2012 than at the school's peer institutions. By 2012 Delta State University would be closest, among Mississippi schools, to its peers in tuition, but it would still cost nearly 12 percent less than those schools.

"If there is a silver lining to this, it's that we're a lot cheaper than everyone else," Bounds said.

Even with the added revenue that higher tuition will bring in, state universities will need to cut personnel and programs to make up the budget shortfall. Bounds projected that the state university system will need to shed 1,042 jobs between now and 2013. The majority of those cuts would come from eliminating vacant positions, but 389 jobs would come from cutting currently filled posts. Bounds also predicted a loss of 28 programs, 49 degrees and 33 departments by 2013. The board will not consider specific cuts to personnel, programs or departments for a few months, Bounds said.

"As we move through this process, we'll have a better handle on where those positions are," Bounds said. "Campuses are still working; these are their best projections."

Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP, expressed concern that increased tuition could make a college education prohibitively expensive for some students.

"In these economic times, there's a question of affordability when you raise fees, and people have lost jobs," Johnson said. "Before you put the burden on the student, the state really needs to do an assessment of all of its institutions of higher learning."

Johnson suggested that consolidation of the state's 15 junior and community colleges might free up money to reduce the need for tuition increases.

House Universities Committee Chairman Kelvin Buck, D-Holly Springs, was disappointed but not surprised by the tuition increases. The Board's action was a "symptom" of Barbour's budget cuts, he said.

"If nothing else, people should see that when the Governor says, 'No new taxes,' that's really not a true statement at all," Buck said. "They're talking (about) multi-year tuition raises. That's nothing more than a diverted tax. It's a transfer of the responsibility of getting the money."