When students opened their MSU e-mail accounts on Monday evening, they were greeted with an e-mail from President Lou Anna K. Simon. Unfortunately, the e-mail wasn’t a chain letter and it wasn’t sent to ask students how their summer was going.
Instead, the e-mail addressed what students should expect in regards to the tuition increase in the upcoming semester and provided an explanation of why the increase is needed. The e-mail notified students that in-state, lower division undergraduates would see a $639 — or 6.8 percent — increase in tuition for the fall semester while out-of-state undergraduates and graduate students will notice a $1,700 — or 7.1 percent — increase in tuition.
It was expressed that the increase is needed to make up for an anticipated 17.6 percent increase in energy costs. The e-mail also mentioned a three-year plan the university hopes to implement, beginning this fall, that would simplify rates and eliminate matriculation and energy fees.
Finally, the university has offered students and parents an explanation of why they’ll be dishing out extra dollars come fall. The only problem is the letter is hard to comprehend, and after deciphering it, you realize Simon didn’t say much that most students don’t already know.
The e-mail can be misleading to students because it reads as though anticipated increases in energy costs are the major reason for the climbing tuition rates. In actuality, the main reason why tuition is expected to rise is due to a decrease in state appropriations for higher education.
The e-mail also suggests that students will only see a tuition increase of $639 or $1,700 per semester. Those amounts are based on 15 credit hours so, in fact, the amount may vary based on how many credits a student is taking.
The most interesting part of the e-mail is the portion where Simon talks about a three-year program that would simplify rates and eliminate matriculation and energy fees. This plan, at least, gives students a glimmer of hope that these tuition increases won’t become a trend.
But if the matriculation and energy fees can be eliminated, then why wasn’t this plan put into effect sooner?
Students are paying as much as $450 per semester in matriculation fees. It’s understandable that some of the fees are needed to assist in the overall upkeep of the university, but $450 is excessive. Maybe the amount would have been appropriate 20 or 30 years ago when people were completing schedules and other university business manually, but the cost seems unnecessary today when everything is done online or by computer.
The e-mail sounds more like Simon and the MSU Board of Trustees are asking students to be sympathetic to the situation. It mentions actions the university has taken in previous years to constrain costs, it doesn’t erase the fact that tuition seems to be constantly increasing.
It’s good that Simon has finally offered an explanation about the tuition increase, instead of just hanging students out to dry. What really would have made the e-mail worthwhile is if it were less confusing and focused more on why the tuition increase is needed instead of how the university has weathered previous difficulties.
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