Beginning in the fall, Mississippi State University will implement a 6.3 percent increase on the current cost of tuition.
Jerry Gilbert, provost and executive vice president, said the increase in tuition is necessary due to an increase in enrollment rates, yet no increase in state funding.
“As we get more students, we need more resources,” Gilbert said. “When we’re growing in enrollment without gaining additional state support, we have a lag in funding.  One way we can get additional money for the university is to increase tuition.”
Gilbert said the decision to increase tuition was made due to a lack of other options to increase revenue for MSU.
“Our preference would be to keep tuition as low as possible and get additional funding from the state,” Gilbert said.  “But when that doesn’t happen, and as our costs of operating go up, we have to come up with additional revenue. So, our only option is to raise tuition and cut costs where we can.”
Wayne Bland, vice president of the Budget and Planning office, said he does not think state funding will increase anytime soon.
“Based upon what we see around the nation, I don’t think the state will start giving more soon,” he said. “The national trend is to raise tuition instead of gaining more state funding.”
Compared to other schools in the region, MSU’s cost of tuition is low, Gilbert said.
“(Increasing tuition) is not something we want to do all the time, but we’ve looked at tuition costs for other universities in the nation — and especially in the region — and we’re not out of line with what other universities are charging,” Gilbert said. “MSU’s tuition cost is the second lowest in the Southeastern Conference.”
Bland said due to an increase in student enrollment, MSU needs to add more faculty members.
“With the increase in students, we’re actually behind in the number of faculty we would feel comfortable with in the classroom,” Bland said. “So I anticipate that some of the additional tuition money will be used to add faculty. As the amount of students grows, the amount of faculty also needs to grow.”
At the faculty senate meeting, Mark Keenum, MSU president, said he wants to increase faculty salaries in order to be competitive with average pay rates.
“This is the fourth year without pay raises,” Keenum said. “I find that atrocious. We are way too low the average pay. We should be above the average.”
Bland said he thinks MSU students will understand the need to increase tuition.
“Our students are realistic,” Bland said. “They read the news and know how the economy is. They know costs are going up, so I don’t think anyone is surprised (about the increase in tuition).”