MSU Regents Approve Budget Without Tuition Hike

All but one MSU regent voted today to cut $1.8 million dollars from the budget.

And the board's decision is making many students happy because it does not include a tuition hike.

Students at Midwestern State University say the economy has caused higher education to mean higher tuition.

"It's been going up and I'm a Caribbean student so for me it's like paying double but it's been going up," says Janelle Paterson, a senior at MSU.

But not this fiscal year.

Regents say a drop in enrollment created a $1.8 million revenue shortfall.

So to fill it they voted to make changes in other areas.

"Some of the initiatives are to pull money out of reserves. Some of the money that's collected for fees was re-evaluated. There was some reallocation of salaries, things of that nature. It's nothing magic. Every time you have to fill a budget you've got to find the dollars somewhere," says MSU Board of Regents Chairman Shawn Hessing.

According to MSU's president, tuition from enrollment is one of the school's biggest sources of revenue but hiking tuition could force even more students to turn away from MSU.

"We don't want Midwestern to become a place that students cannot afford," explains Dr. Jesse Rogers, president of MSU.

So for now, regents are looking elsewhere to make up the nearly $2 million shortfall in revenue.

Here's a closer look at three ways regents plan to make up the $1.8 million budget deficit.

They expect to save $500,000 by cutting course fee balances, $200,000 by putting a hiring freeze on some open positions and $50,000 through some salary changes.

Again, tuition will not go up but MSU President Dr. Jesse Rogers say that could change later when regents met again in February.