Murray State University officials announced proposed adjustments to the school’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year during a town hall meeting on campus Wednesday, including pay bumps for faculty, staff and student workers and a raise in tuition.
A proposed 2% cost of living adjustment is expected to boost faculty and staff salaries across the board. The administration also hopes to increase some chair stipends at the school by as much as 15% and upping promotional pay – the change in compensation some faculty receive when they rise through the ranks – by $1,000. MSU senior vice president Jackie Dudley noted that these proposed increases in pay are not expected to impact employees’ benefits.
Dudley also announced a proposed 50-cent increase in the minimum wage for student workers, which would raise it to $8.50 per hour.
Accompanying the rise in campus wages, Dudley announced an expected 4.2% tuition hike for the 2025-2026 academic year. She said that the rates students pay for campus housing and dining are expected to go up by 2.5% and 3.6% respectively. Also, Dudley said that student accounts operating on tuition payment plans will now be subject to late charges.
“We take it very seriously when we set tuition. We know it's a cost for our students, but we're also challenged with trying to balance the budget,” Dudley said. “As [University President Bob Jackson] mentioned, we're trying to balance a $10.3 million budget increase this year.”
Dudley went on to announce that scholarship funding for the upcoming year will rise by $4.2 million.
Jason Youngblood, director of facilities management, identified other big ticket items in the school’s budget during the meeting, including the construction of a new $38 million residence hall, a $60 million school of veterinary medicine and the $10 million appropriation to do a complete makeover of the Martha Layne Collins building, primarily used for cybersecurity.
