For a second year, Missouri’s public universities have been offered half a loaf – and have gladly taken it. They are probably acting shrewdly and in the best interests of their students.
Gov. Jay Nixon this week announced an agreement under which the state’s 13 public universities would accept a 5.2 percent cut in state funding – $42 million – and agree to hold the line on tuition for a second year. The bargain the universities are buying into is that the cuts won’t be any worse than that.
There are a couple of “hold it a minute” points. First, this is for in-state, undergraduate tuition only, not room and board and books. Second – and this is the big “if” – the General Assembly and the universities’ governing boards still have to sign off on the deal.
Last time around, there was some muttering among legislators, but they went along. This time, who’s to say? But it’s clear that the budget battles next spring in Jefferson City will be painful and intense. Perhaps legislators will conclude that the deal at least relieves them of one headache and lets the universities keep doing business with some degree of certainty about their finances. Otherwise, it could get ugly. It’s happened before.
The deal also gives students and parents a little breathing space. College costs have for years risen significantly more quickly than inflation, and that’s one of the things putting a squeeze on the middle class. The bigger point is that access to higher education is the main underpinning of America’s middle class. The state has a short-term interest in balancing the books and continuing to deliver services. It has a profound and long-term interest in a well-educated workforce and population.
Eastern Jackson County, MO —
