TBR Weighs Tuition Increases To Offset Drop In State Funding

The Tennessee Board of Regents expects its state funding to take another hit when Governor Phil Bredesen unveils his budget plan next week. So TBR’s finance committee is weighing how to make up some of that lost state money in the next round of tuition increases.

TBR expects another $37 million will be cut for the next fiscal year. If so, its state funding will have shrunk by almost $180 million over three years.

Board members are looking for ways to make student revenue help counteract that cut. But to make back just half the loss, TBR would have to raise fees by more than 5 percent. TBR Chancellor Charles Manning warns that doesn’t take into account inflated costs for schools.

“It isn’t taking into consideration increased dollar costs that the campuses have for teaching more students, to paying for higher utilities, to paying for anything else.”

The finance committee is also looking at phasing out its discount for students who take more than 12 hours of classes in a semester. Last year the board voted to start charging full-time students for extra hours, while discounting those hours dramatically.

EXTRA:

See the materials from Thurday’s finance committee meeting. Note members say the materials are purely informational and reflect no new decision or action by the board.

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