Why Did MTSU Enrollment Drop So Suddenly? President Says Students Can’t Pay

MTSU President Sydney McPhee on the right says he can’t blame Governor Bill Haslam who did not fully fund MTSU under the new Complete College Act. Credit: TN Photo Services

Middle Tennessee State University is blaming a big enrollment decrease on students’ ability to pay. Admission figures have just been made final, though president Sidney McPhee says the nearly five percent drop occurred just before the start of the semester.

“We purged, we dropped from our rolls the Friday before classes began that Monday over 1,200 students because they were unable to afford their tuition,” McPhee tells WPLN. “This has been a pattern over the last several years.”

The university hiked tuition 4.4 percent this fall, topping $8,000 for the year.

Admissions officers have been surveying students who left and McPhee says cost is the number one factor, adding that many plan to come back.

The enrollment drop has forced MTSU to make cuts, though McPhee says they should not be noticeable to most students.

“There should be no real, meaningful distraction to us,” he says.

The financial pinch is compounded by the state’s inability to follow through on a program that pays universities more for graduating students on time. MTSU was due $4.2 million for increased efficiencies under the Complete College Act but ended up only getting $1.25 million.