Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant’s recent announcement of emergency state budget cuts has Mississippi State University officials concerned over the future of state funding for public universities.
The governor’s announcement came through a letter to the Department of Finance and Administration. The new budget cuts totaling $51 million will cut $10.3 million from the state’s eight public universities. In September, Bryant ordered a $57 million budget cut due to an accounting error. 
Last April, MSU President Mark Keenum voiced his concerns with leadership of the state College Board about challenges facing higher education. In his speech, Keenum acknowledged the state’s revenue problems, and the value of investing in public universities for the state as a whole.
“It bears repeating in a state with the nation’s most pronounced poverty and the nation’s second-lowest level of educational attainment,” Keenum said, “the prizes for better jobs and better lives for our children and grandchildren are inexorably tied to an excellent, affordable, and accessible system of higher education.”
 Sid Salter, MSU’s chief communications officer and director, said the university is concerned and is evaluating the impact of the latest round of cuts. How those cuts may affect funding for the university, he said, can only be speculated about.
Kathleen Thomas, associate professor of economics, said she does not know what will happen with tuition, but she can envision different scenarios playing out.
 One of the options for the university, Thomas said, would be making a request to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning for a tuition increase. Thomas said she does not think the university would feel comfortable increasing tuition again so soon following the last tuition hike. The university may, however, look to other means to address the shortfall.
“The university is really in a bind,” Thomas said. “One thing that students probably don’t understand very well, is that the cost of educating a student in one year is really pretty expensive, and that tuition doesn’t even cover half of that cost.”
Money that helps fund a student’s education comes from state appropriations paid by taxpayers and the university itself.
Thomas said over the last few years state appropriations have drastically fallen, shifting the costs on to students and the university. 
Thomas said some things reduced funding could affect include, the library’s hours of operation and fewer new library books. Classroom technology may not be updated. Faculty vacancies could be left unfilled or lead to existing faculty not receiving raises.
One way or another, Thomas said, the university will find a way to close the gaps in funding.
 States who constantly choose to cut spending from education create what Thomas calls, “a vicious cycle.”
To illustrate her “vicious cycle,” Thomas points to someone with little to no education who makes low wages, and thus contributes very little to the state’s tax revenue. This in turn, affects the amount of money the state can give to universities.
What the recent budget cuts point to, Thomas said, is an underlying issue: the need for the state to invest more in education at all levels. Having a skilled work force begins with an educated population.
As a professor, in her economics of education class, Thomas talks to students about how investing in education creates both private and social returns. Private returns benefit the individual by creating more job opportunities and higher wages. Social returns benefit society as a whole leading to less crime, better public health and civic decision making.
On the other hand, Thomas said, MSU offers a competitive tuition and a good value which benefits in-state students.
Kevin Edelblute, assistant vice president and controller and treasurer, said the state’s budget cuts have the university concerned, however, the university does not feel they will have an immediate impact on tuition costs.
“We feel like we have positioned ourselves to be able to handle them without going out and immediately raising tuition,” Edelblute said.
Rising tuition costs are not a direct result of the on-going state budget cuts. If cuts get more severe, Edelblute said, then the issue of raising tuition could be brought up.
Edelblute said when the university makes the decision to raise tuition rates, it usually will request rates for multiple years. When tuition rates do increase this upcoming fall, they will be the result of a decision made nearly two years ago. 
He said future budget cuts or disappearances of funding from the state to the university, could lead to tuition rising.
Edelblute said  leadership in charge of raising tuition acknowledge how tuition increases may hinder some student’s ability to attend the university. Therefore, when a decision is made to raise rates, they try to keep the increase minimal.
“The real question is, are they going to keep cutting,” Edelblute said, “and if they keep cutting more next year, what is that going to do, and what implication is that going to have from a tuition standpoint?”