Some students, parents concerned about tuition increase at MU
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
UPDATE: UM Board of Curators has passed a 5% tuition increase for students at The University of Missouri, in an 8 to 1 vote.
Curator David Steelman was the only curator to vote against the hike, he said he was worried that the increase in tuition would drive more students to community colleges as opposed to the Mizzou experience.
MU Spokesman Christian Basi said the move was made to give students at the university more resources to help them graduate quicker and succeed.
ORIGINAL: The University of Missouri Board of Curators are scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether or not to increase tuition and fees for students for the upcoming school year.
The vote is scheduled to take place during a Board of Curators meeting at 3:30 p.m.
If passed, both in-state and out-of-state students would see a tuition hike of 5% for the upcoming 2021 fall semester.
Hunter Larson, a junior business student at MU said he would actually like to see tuition decrease, after schooling changed drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The value of my education has gone down slightly, so I feel like the tuition cost should reflect that," Larson said. "In the virtual setting, student to teacher interactions have dramatically decreased and at least personally, that's my way of learning."
Larson said while the tuition increase wouldn't cause him to have to leave the university, he's worried for other students who may not be able to afford a 5% tuition increase.
Nicole Garrett, Junior said her interactions with teachers have been limited to emails this past year.
Garrett's parents, Debra and Steve were also concerned about the increase and said they'd like to see tuition decrease.
"They should probably decrease it by five or ten percent." Steve Garrett said. "The campus isn't being used as much, neither are the facilities so really no justification for any kind of increase in my opinion."
The university has updated their COVID-19 policies as of late on their Show Me Renewal page, announcing the majority of MU system employees have returned to in person work as of May 17.
MU also updated their mask policy, no longer requiring masks to be worn outdoors on campus.
The university will still continue to require face masks while indoors and in classrooms even for those students who are fully vaccinated.
The increase would see in-state students pay an additional $15.30 per credit hour while out-of-state students would see an increase of $46 dollars per credit hour. Per semester, in-state students would see a hike of about $229 and $690 for out-of-state students taking 15 credits.
According to the proposal, the school says the tuition increase will be "used to make investments to meet the important mission of student success, academic excellence, and meaningful engagement."
