Jackson Free Press

If current state budget cuts stand, Mississippi's eight public universities will have to shed 1,000 jobs and raise tuition over the next two years. Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds delivered that dire message to the state's Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees at a Jan. 21 meeting. Days later, the Board approved recommended tuition increases at a Jan. 25 meeting.

The increases, which will take place over two years, are necessary to offset current and anticipated budget cuts, Bounds said. Gov. Haley Barbour has called for a roughly 8 percent cut of $53.9 million in the state's 2010 IHL budget, but Bounds instructed university presidents to prepare for even deeper reductions of about 10 percent.

"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."

Tuition increases range from lows of 4.5 percent—in 2011 and 2012 at Mississippi Valley State University—to highs of 9 percent for both years at Delta State University and Jackson State University.

At the Jan. 25 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."

Bounds 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 to its peers in tuition, among Mississippi schools, 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. The bulk of those will come in the 2011 fiscal year, which legislators are preparing for during the current legislative session. In numerical terms, Mississippi State University expects to lose the most jobs, but Bounds acknowledged that personnel cuts at smaller universities could prove even more painful.

"Thirty jobs at Alcorn State may be more significant than 100 positions at Mississippi State," Bounds said.

Jackson State and the University of Mississippi both projected relatively small cuts to currently filled positions, with JSU predicting a loss of 16 filled positions and Ole Miss predicting layoffs of 33 personnel.

Bounds also predicted a system-wide 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 said 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 said the Board's action was a "symptom" of Barbour's budget cuts. Aside from a House proposal to offset this year's shortfall with $15 million reserve funds, the House has few other viable options for averting tuition increases, Buck said.

"There are ideas as to how we could get more dollars to our universities and colleges, but getting them passed in both the House and Senate and having the governor sign onto them is going to be very difficult," Buck said.

Buck charged Barbour with shirking the duty of state government to raise revenue for education."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."