Murray State University officials are studying a change to "reset" the school’s tuition model to compensate for decreases in state higher education funding.
MSU President Bob Davies gave his inaugural State of the University Address Monday at Wrather Auditorium.
Davies says higher education has experienced a dramatic drop in state funding over the last decade.
"During this time in Kentucky, the state appropriations for public universities decreased by nearly $180 million," said Davies. "In total at Murray State, these decreases in funding, cost shifts and unfunded mandates represent a nearly 25 percent decrease in state appropriations."
To help compensate, the university is proposing to change tuition by charging per credit hour.
Currently, Murray State tuition is capped to the first 12 credit hours. Davies says over the last year, the university has had to incur the cost of 29,194 free credit hours for students -- 13 percent of all credits granted -- and that model is not sustainable in the current economic environment.
"Our goal is to have a tuition model that is transparent in process, remains affordable and encourages students to take fifteen, not twelve, credits per semester and produce a sufficient revenue to support the associated costs of a high quality academic university. It is a difficult but necessary balancing act, and one that I am confident we can achieve."
Davies says a key step is to fund more scholarships to assist student success and progress.
"This has been sorely missing in recruiting high-quality students in our immediate region as well as our other primary and secondary markets," said Davies. "We'll also target specific demographics of students to promote diversity and meet statewide priorities. Our current academic scholarship levels have been static for many years and have been limited in scope. Our plan is to increase the amounts, rewarding high achievement and providing incentives for student who perform well while attending Murray State University."
Davies says the university will release a plan for these models later this week as well as recommendations to the MSU Board of Regents and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.
Last week, CPE President Bob King pressed the General Assembly to take up the issue of a performance funding model which will tie a portion of state appropriations for eight state universities and the community and technical college system to a number of metrics. They may include degrees produced, student retention rates and graduation rates. There may also be specific goals for minority and low-income students.
Davies says he would have some concerns over the politics of such model.
"We must be aggressive in pursuing these avenues that they (do) not carry us away from our core values," said Davies.
“Please do not get me wrong, I believe that we should as a public university be held accountable, I also believe that performance funding can be positive," said Davies. "My concern lies in the political nature that evolves around these issues and whether we are truly focused on the key goals and benefits of the university or what is politically expedient.”
Changes to the tuition model must receive CPE approval.
Davies also outlined proposals for changes to admissions standards and experiential learning opportunities.