Mississippi State University students and their families will have to dig deeper in their pockets this year and years to come, as the institution’s cost of tuition rose 7.9 percent for the 2013 fiscal year.
Tuition and fees went from $5,805 to $6,264 for Mississippi residents and for out-of-state students, the cost of education increased from $8,865 to $9,564.
For the 2014 fiscal year, the Institutions for Higher Learning Board approved a 6.5 percent increase for MSU. In-state students can expect to pay $6,672, and tuition and fees will rise to $10,188 for non-residents. Tuition for in-state students at MSU’s College of  Veterinary Medicine rose 4.1 percent, rising from $17,304 to $18,011 and rose 3.3 percent from $24,200 to $25,000 for out-of-state students.
For the 2014, 2015 and 2016 fiscal years, Mississippi-resident students at the CVM can expect a 3.7 percent increase and will pay $18,682, $19,377 and $20,099, and non-resident tuition rates will be $25,200 due to a 0.8 percent increase.
Phil Bonfanti, MSU executive director for enrollment, said a continued reduction in state funding was the driving force behind the MSU administration’s request for a tuition increase.
“We’ve been experiencing a decline in state revenue for many years now. Historically, the main operating costs of running the university were covered by two revenue sources: state funding and tuition,” he said. “When one of those goes down, Mississippi State’s first reaction is not to just raise tuition, but we had to find a way to fill that gap. We formed a committee called the Innovations and Efficiencies Committee because we wanted to try and find more efficient ways to operate the institution. The next thing we tried was instead of increasing the money that we’re getting from current students, let’s increase the number of students,” he said. “But when you increase enrollment, you’re also increasing costs. We actually were able to significantly reduce the costs over the past couple of years, but not enough to completely cover the gap, so that’s when we said we need to raise tuition.”
 Kevin Edelblute, MSU controller and treasurer, said a tuition increase will help fund the cost of maintaining facilities frequented by many at the university.
“Part of what you’re paying is used to support amenities on campus like the Sanderson Center, the Union, Athletics and the Health Center. Utilities is probably one of the biggest budget items we’ve got,” he said.
Bonfanti said the administration is continuing to keep a close eye on its student to faculty ratio. Jerry Gilbert, MSU provost and executive vice president, said the student to faculty ratio in previous years was 18:1 but has risen to 20:1.