Regents approve new fees, 2008-'09 budget summary

Northwest’s Board of Regents met in regular session Friday, May 2, in the J.W. Jones Student Union to consider a number of administrative staff proposals, including new enrollment and program fees and an education and general budget summary for fiscal 2008-’09.

The board approved the proposal to raise enrollment and program fees, including tuition, this fall. For the first time the increase is governed under the terms of a cap enacted last year by the state Legislature, which stipulates that such increases cannot exceed the annual growth of the consumer price index.

Northwest has been advised by the Missouri Department of Higher Education that the legislation, which excludes student-approved fees, limits this year’s increase to 4.1 percent.

Under the cap-compliant tuition/fee schedule, Northwest undergraduate students who are permanent Missouri residents will pay $230.39 per hour of academic credit in 2008-’09, up from $207.60 for the current year.

The new rate includes existing activity and wellness services fees, which are being converted from a per-person, per-trimester charge to a per-credit-hour charge. This will result in a lower total cost for students who take fewer credit hours per semester.

The combined conversion rate for these two fees is $7 per credit hour. Un-capped, per-hour fee increases also total $7 and include $2.50 for classroom renovation, 50 cents for wellness services, $3 for technology and $1 for textbook rental.

An undergraduate in-state resident who enrolls in 24 credit hours of classes during the 2008-’09 academic year will pay $5,529.36 in tuition and fees, up from a current total of $5,192.40.

Combined 2008-’09 room and board costs for the fall and spring trimesters will rise to $6,590 (two-person occupancy, regular meal plan) from a current $6,276. This means that the total one-year (fall and spring trimesters) estimated cost of enrollment, fees, room and board at Northwest for a resident undergraduate student will be approximately $12,119, or $650 more than in 2007-’08.

Tuition is also going up for out-of-state students and those seeking advanced degrees. Undergraduate non-Missouri residents will pay $387.78 per credit hour in 2008-’09 compared to $356.20 this year.

Graduate students who live in Missouri, or who live in neighboring states and meet eligibility requirements for the “Bearcat Break,” will pay $281.34 per credit hour, up from 259.55. Tuition for non-resident graduate students will increase to $484.93 from $454.35.

The regents also signaled approval Friday of a summarized version of the University’s education and general budget, a spending plan that covers salaries and general operations but not such self-sustaining functions as campus housing and dining services.

University income is expected to grow by about 9 percent for fiscal 2008-’09, with most of the increase coming from the 4.1 percent raise in tuition and a 4 percent increase in state appropriations.

Other new income includes a rise in the per-credit-hour technology fee from $7 to $10, which will help pay for expanding the existing student laptop program to all full-time undergraduate and graduate students whether or not they live on campus.

Personnel expenditures tied to growing enrollment and new facilities include four new instructor-level faculty hires (accounting, management, English and music) and 12 new staff positions. These comprise an athletics strength and conditioning coach, four custodians, a hardscape groundskeeper, a counselor, residential life specialist, human resources office manager, a residential counselor for the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing, an advisement/transfer facilitator, and a biological sciences laboratory technician.

The budget summary approved by the regents is essentially an outline of the University’s overall spending plan for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. At its next meeting on June 26, the board will consider a detailed budget package that includes line-item expenditures.

In other business the regents listened to a presentation by Provost Kichoon Yang summarizing proposed faculty expansion over the five-year period beginning in fall 2009 in conjunction with implementation of the Rational Expectations Enrollment Plan, or REEP.

REEP assumes Northwest’s student population will grow 20 percent over historical levels during that period, and, depending on actual enrollment, calls for the addition 30 new faculty members between 2009-’10 and 2013-’14.

Yang also briefed the board on developments having to do with staffing and administration of the Northwest Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, formerly the Center of Excellence for Plant Biologics, which is expected to open in 2009.

Part research center and part business incubator, the center has the four-fold goal of combining academic and entrepreneurial resources, advancing the academic and research goals of students and faculty, fostering the growth and success of tenant firms and contributing to the region’s overall economic development.

Two companies have signed memorandums of understanding with the University declaring their intention to become center tenants, and discussions are continuing with two other firms who have expressed serious interest.

The regents also voted to approve a new interdisciplinary minor in comprehensive crisis response. Proposed by the Faculty Senate, the minor will address emerging educational needs in the area of crisis response and management tied to professional opportunities in the government, corporate and non-profit sectors.

Implementing the minor will require creation of three new courses: homeland security and defense, disaster response and recovery and humanitarian relief.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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