Tuition Increase at Ole Miss

            The state college board voted to increase tuition at Ole Miss this year by 8.5 percent at their meeting on May 7. An additional 6 percent increase will be added for spring of 2013.

            This fall, resident’s tuition will increase from $5,792 to $6,282 and to $6,616 for the spring of 2013. Nonresident tuition will increase 9.9 percent, from $14,797 to $16,266. Fiscal year begins on July 1 to June 30. Sparks stressed that the numbers for 2014 are not fiscal.

            “Basically, higher education has gone through a shifting of funding within the past 30 years. When I was going to college, tuition was a much smaller piece of an institution’s budget and support from the state was a much bigger piece. It was closer to the K12 program in terms of subsidies. It was perceived that public education was something that the government provided through tax payers,” Sparks said.

            The main sources of revenue for an institution’s core operations are tuitions and state appropriations. The national allocating of funding has affected higher education in terms of funding. Factors include a cut under 1 percent in state appropriations and the lack of funding for the Public Employment Retirement System, according to Larry Sparks, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance at Ole Miss.

            In 1979, tuitions and fees were 32 percent and state appropriations were 64.7 percent compared to this current year’s tuition and fees of 63.6 percent to state appropriations 25.3 percent. The numbers show that there is a shift in funding between the individual and state appropriations.

            “More out of state students continue to apply because it’s still a relatively good buy for nonresidents because many say they would pay just as much at their home institutions,” Jody Lowe said.

            Some students would agree, “It won’t affect me because this is my last semester but you have to expect it to go up some. It’s not that bad necessarily but I don’t think people will be happy about it,” Richard Blount said.

            “There is a national tread in public higher education, it is not unique to Mississippi and it’s certainly not unique to Ole Miss. Tax payers are paying less of the cost of education and the actual individuals who are in school are picking up a bigger piece of the pie. It’s happening everywhere but it has accelerated at Ole Miss because we get far less funding than the other institutions in appropriations because we have grown faster.  The rate of higher education in terms of student growth is growing faster than the state’s economy. A college degree has become almost a necessity for the job market,” Sparks said.