Nixon calls for tuition freeze

Missouri hopes to freeze tuition rates at four-year public colleges and universities for the second year in a row.
Gov. Jay Nixon announced the freeze Tuesday during visits to the University of Missouri in St. Louis and Missouri State University in Springfield.

“To turn this economy around, Missourians must be trained, educated and ready to work, and that’s why it was vital that we kept tuition flat for Missouri families,” Nixon said. “As tuition skyrockets by double digits in other states, university leaders, faculty members and my administration have worked together to put Missouri students first and protect them from tuition spikes for the second year in a row.”

Under a new proposed agreement with Nixon, Missouri’s public four-year schools would not impose a tuition increase on in-state, undergraduate students for the 2010-2011 school year. If approved, this will be the second consecutive year Missouri students have benefited from a tuition freeze agreement between Nixon and college and university leaders. In return, Nixon has agreed to maintain higher education funding at approximately 95 percent of the current fiscal year’s appropriation. This works out to be reduction of 5.2 percent or $42 million.
Sedalia resident Sheree Vaughn is one college student who hopes the agreement passes.

Vaughn, 27, plans to enroll in classes at the University of Central Missouri for the spring semester. Vaughn, an Air Force wife and mother, said she has been saving for over a year to finish her teaching degree.

After a relocation from Oklahoma and the birth of her son, Dion, Vaughn said she and her husband are finally in a good place financially. “I’ve been waiting my turn,” she said. “I’m so excited to finish my degree and start my career.”

Vaughn estimates she will pay $2,500 a semester at UCM and $500 for books. A total of $12,000 will be needed to finish her degree, she said.

“I’ve got it budgeted to the penny,” Vaughn. “A major tuition increase would really put a kink in my future plans.”

“I thank the leaders of Missouri’s four-year colleges and universities, the faculty members and those who came together to make this agreement possible,” Nixon said. “We’ve all had to make tough choices about ways we can become more efficient and maximize our limited resources.”

Under a similar agreement, colleges and universities agreed to freeze tuition in exchange for stable funding in the fiscal year 2010 budget. Prior to the freeze, tuition at Missouri’s public colleges had increased by 7.5 percent a year over the past decade.

The agreement is subject to approval by the General Assembly and each school’s governing body.