MSU board approves $219.7M budget

Budgeted operating expenses for 2007-08 will be financed by budgeted and net nonoperating revenues of $221.6 million, according to an MSU news release.

Operating expenses at the Springfield campus are budgeted at $209.3 million, while budgeted operating expenses at the West Plains campus are $8.9 million.

The Springfield campus budget includes funding for seven new faculty positions and four new staff positions, a 5 percent increase in the salary pool for employees, a $1.4 million increase in student scholarships and financial aid for a total of $39.3 million, and increases in utilities and other fixed costs.

The budget includes revenues from a 3.5 percent increase in student fees, a 4 percent to 5 percent increase in room-and-board charges and an expected enrollment growth of 100 students.

The state is expected to provide the school $83.7 million – about $4.3 million more than received in 2006-07. The appropriation is a 4.2 percent increase from last year and includes an additional $485,000 in recurring funds for a cooperative engineering program with University of Missouri-Rolla and $485,000 in recurring funds for the West Plains campus.