Thankfully, the board is paying half a million dollars to a consulting company so it can find out why more students are not coming to Southern.
From MSSU University Relations and Marketing:
The Missouri Southern State University Board of Governors approved a new tuition rate for the 2012-2013 academic year during a regular meeting today, Friday, April 20, 2012.
The Board approved an increase in the in-state resident tuition of $6.48, bringing the new rate to $169.48 per credit hour.
The non-resident tuition rate was increased by $12.96 to $338.96 per credit hour.
The Board eliminated one student fee: The records fee of $3 will no longer be assessed.
In two votes, Board members also increased or implemented other fees, which included:
• Textbook rental fee, which increased by $2 to $12 per credit hour, the first increase in two years for this fee;
• Student parking fee, which increased by $3 to a total of $18, the first change since 1999;
• New international student fee of $50, implemented to cover international correspondence, phone calls and other costs;
• New online transcript fee of $10;
• New graduation fee of $50, assessed as of the December 2013 semester to cover the cost of diplomas, stage rental and other school graduation expenses.
• Student parking fee, which increased by $3 to a total of $18, the first change since 1999;
• New international student fee of $50, implemented to cover international correspondence, phone calls and other costs;
• New online transcript fee of $10;
• New graduation fee of $50, assessed as of the December 2013 semester to cover the cost of diplomas, stage rental and other school graduation expenses.
The $10 transcript fee is an insult. Who requests transcripts? People applying for jobs or graduate school. Students are often encouraged to apply to as many grad schools as possible. The application fees are often upwards of $50. A broke recent grad applying to a dozen schools will pay $600 plus $120 to MSSU. I guess Missouri Southern Vocational School doesn't care about such issues.
ReplyDeleteMay I request that my transcript be transferred to another school? I don't want to be a MSSU alum anymore.
Let us not forget that we pay Dr. Speck $180,000 per year, plus a $40,000 housing allowance, plus a car, plus gasoline, and we also reimburse him for his car washes. Are we getting enough bang for our buck?
ReplyDeleteA few months ago, MSSU faculty and staff were asked for suggestions to increase revenue and reduce costs. There were literally hundreds of thoughtful suggestions made by well-intentioned MSSU employees that did NOT involve increased student fees. Even so, the Joplin Globe story clearly linked these suggestions to the new student fees, as if faculty and staff are responsible. Here's the first few sentences of the Globe article:
ReplyDelete"Missouri Southern State University students will see some new and some increased fees in the fall semester after action Friday by the MSSU Board of Governors.
Many of the fees were among the ideas offered by faculty and staff earlier this year when university officials solicited ideas for cost savings to try to avoid layoffs."
Also, faculty and staff did not decide which suggestions to use, the Board of Governors did.
The increase in fees should be blamed squarely on Speck and the Board of Governors.
The Globe also described how faculty would receive raises this year, with a statement of support from Speck. This was clearly designed to create a link in the public's mind between the increase in student fees and increase in faculty salaries. As the Globe featured an article a few weeks ago which gave an example of a university professor (not at MSSU) who worked 16 hours a week, it seems that any local reader of the Globe will assume that faculty professors only work 16 hours a week, but would greedily charge students increased fees to support an increase in their salaries.
This article is another example of how the Globe supports the MSSU administration to the detriment of faculty and staff.
The best solution for students and taxpayers is too eliminate Missouri Southern's inefficient, ineffective, and expensive administration. The university should be added to the University of Missouri or Missouri State University system and all high-level administrators dismissed. The result would be efficiency, savings, and, heaven forbid, competence.
ReplyDelete