Regents Set Fees for FY2011
The Southeast Missouri State University Board
of Regents today set incidental fees for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Under the approved plan, the incidental fee rate will remain flat for
Missouri undergraduate students and for lower division regional campus
courses for next school year. This is in keeping with Missouri Gov. Jay
Nixon’s recommendation regarding state appropriations for higher
education for fiscal 2011 that included the agreement that institutions
would not increase resident, undergraduate incidental fees.
Incidental fees charged to Missouri undergraduate students will
remain at $184.80 per credit hour. Incidental fees charged for lower
division regional campus courses will remain at $119 per credit hour.
Under Senate Bill 389, universities would have been allowed to raise
resident, undergraduate incidental fees by 2.7 percent (CPI-U) or $5 per
credit hour at Southeast. However, Kathy Mangels, vice president for
finance and administration, said the University’s Budget Review
Committee did not recommend an increase in incidental fees for Missouri
undergraduates or for the lower division regional campus incidental fee
for fall 2010.
Meanwhile, the Regents today approved a $10 increase in the per
credit hour incidental fee rate charged to non-resident, undergraduate
students; a $24.26 increase in the per credit hour rate charged to
Missouri graduate students; and a $48.52 increase in the per credit hour
rate charged to non-resident graduate students.
The new per credit hour incidental fee rates charged will be $349.30
for non-resident undergraduates; $237.30 for Missouri graduate students;
and $441.80 for non-resident graduate students.
Mangels said incidental fee rates on resident and non-resident
graduate courses were considered by the Budget Review Committee as a
part of institutional revenue enhancement initiatives. With input from
deans and department chairs, the Provost’s Office conducted an analysis
of the cost per student credit hour for all academic programs in order
to consider ways to offset the cost of offering high cost programs, she
said. Ultimately, the Budget Review Committee recommended increasing the
incidental fee charged on all graduate coursework above the 2.7 percent
CPI-U level.
Mangels said the Budget Review Committee recommended increasing
graduate fees above the CPI-U after a comparison with graduate
incidental fees charged at other Missouri institutions. That comparison
showed Southeast’s current graduate incidental fee rate is the second
lowest, she said. The new rates will keep the incidental fee for
graduate coursework at 125 percent of the rate for undergraduate
coursework, she said.
In her discussion of the graduate level fees, Mangels said a $250
program fee is currently charged per semester to graduate students
majoring in nursing and communication disorders. While these programs
are still considered high cost based on the analysis, they do not exceed
other high cost graduate programs, she said. Therefore, the current
$250 per semester graduate program fee on nursing and communication
disorders will no longer be charged after the summer 2010 semester. High
cost graduate programs will be reevaluated every three years, she said.
The fee increases approved today, which also were endorsed by Student
Government, will generate about $275,000 in revenue toward the Budget
Review Committee’s goal of identifying $2 million in institutional
revenue enhancements and expense reductions to meet anticipated budget
shortfalls over the next two years, Mangels said.
With the general student fee remaining at $23.70 per credit hour and
based on today’s approved incidental fee rate plan, total required fees
per credit hour charged to students will be $208.50 for Missouri
undergraduates; $373 for non-resident undergraduates; $261 for resident
graduate students; $465.50 for non-resident graduate students; and
$132.50 for lower division courses at the regional campuses.