SMSU boosts fees for 2005 school year

The additional fees will cover increases in utility and health care costs and mandatory contributions to the employee retirement fund. A 2 percent increase in faculty and staff salaries also will come from the additional student fees, according to Kent Kay, chief financial officer and associate vice president of financial services at SMSU.

SMSU President John H. Keiser said in the release that another complicating factor is inequitable state funding.

“SMSU has lower per-student funding than any other state college or university in Missouri. Despite that, our fees have remained relatively low compared to other state-funded universities,” Keiser said.

Don Aripoli, vice president of student affairs, said that even with the increased student fees, SMSU will likely remain in the middle in terms of the total cost for in-state students. In the 2005-06 school year, the total cost for an in-state student to take 30 credit hours will be $5,454.

“We’ve tried to work with students to get educational fees as low as we can and still meet operating expenses,” Aripoli said.

SMSU students voted to support the increase, according to Chris Curtis, president of the Student Government Association, because they understand that the administration is working to keep costs down.

“You must find a balance between affordability, access and quality,” Curtis said.

The SGA has voted to increase the Student Computer User Fund by $10 a semester to pay for a music downloading service for students, Curtis said. Two proposals that meet the school’s minimum requirements have been received from Napster and Cdigix, and students and the university will make a decision on the proposals soon.

The Board of Governors also approved an additional $1 per semester fee to pay for SGA’s operational costs, which are currently paid by the administration.

“It is important for students to have the resources to travel to Jefferson City to have their voices heard, and this reorganization will allow them to do that,” Curtis said.

SMSU is the Springfield area’s largest higher learning institution based on Fall 2003 enrollment, and the second-largest institutional employer, based on full-time local employers, in SBJ’s 2005 Book of Lists.