IDev TV

Some lawmakers expressed concerns Monday about the impact on institutions of higher education if there is another year of major funding cuts and no tuition increases.

Last week, Gov. Jay Nixon urged university and college officials not to use large tuition increases to offset a proposed reduction of $106 million in state funding. If the latest proposal is included, higher education aid will have been cut by 25 percent over the last three years.

“That is really not something we desire,” said Linda Luebbering, the state budget director. “It is due to lack of revenue.”

The state budget is facing a $500 million budget shortfall, which will be made up through a variety of cuts. Higher education will be taking one of the larger hits under Nixon’s proposed cut.

The funding level would be equal to what higher education received in 1997. Several members of the Senate Appropriations Committee Monday said they will likely find ways to make the cuts less severe.

But they also worried the governor’s statements meant colleges would be forced to use a cuts-only approach to absorbing the impact, instead of finding new money to soften the blow.

“Obviously, I think you are hearing a lot of dissatisfaction in the General Assembly on a 12.5 percent cut, and you’re probably going to see a lot of things done to see if we can minimize that. I would like to know what the governor’s response to that is going to be,” said Appropriations Chairman Kurt Schaefer, D-Columbia.

State law prevents any tuition hike from exceeding the increase in the Consumer Price Index, which is about 3 percent for this year.

Any college or university seeking a rate hike above that would have to get permission from the state Higher Education Commissioner.

Last year, the University of Missouri system and Missouri Western State University attempted to raise tuition more than the CPI.

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