The Board of Trustees will consider a proposal to increase in-state tuition and mandatory fees at the June 20, 2023 meeting.

Tennessee law (Tennessee Code Annotated § 49-7-1603) requires boards of public universities to give public notice of proposed increases to tuition and mandatory fees charged to in-state undergraduate students at least fifteen (15) days prior to holding a public meeting to adopt the increases.  Individuals are permitted to provide comments during the fifteen-day period.

The public comment period will end June 9 at 4:30 p.m. CDT.

	2022-23 Tuition & Fees	Proposed 2023-24 Tuition & Fees	Change		Annual Revenue
Undergraduate In-State Tuition per semester based on 15 hours	$3,852	$3,954	$102.00	2.6%	$3,750,600
Mandatory Fees	$944	$985	$41.00	4.3%	$1,435,000
Total Projected Revenue Growth				2.98%	$5,185,600

 

Explanation for the Proposed Tuition and Mandatory Fee Increase

Tuition, along with state appropriations, supports 94% of the education and general (E&G) operations of the university. The modest 2.98% increase proposed will help fund enhanced scholarships, new or expanded academic programs, and inflationary costs associated with utility costs, software maintenance, and campus technology infrastructure.

Mandatory fees support a variety of student services, as well as other operational and auxiliary functions provided by the university.  The proposed increases are to support Parking Services, Student Health Services, Technology Access, Student Recreation, and athletic capital expenses.

Purposes for Which Revenue Derived from the Tuition and Mandatory Fee Increase Will be Used

The proposed tuition increase will fund:

• enhanced scholarship programs for incoming and continuing students
• promotions for faculty that advance from assistant to associate to full professor
• new academic programs in high demand in the job market
• inflationary increases in classroom and administrative software maintenance agreements, technology infrastructure, and utility costs

Parking Services is an auxiliary enterprise and is totally dependent on the Parking Fee for its shuttle services for students, utilities and maintenance cost of the Parking office and shuttle buses, and various parking lots, campus lighting, and sidewalk maintenance projects. The $2 increase will assist in covering these increased costs, as well as the proposed salary and benefit increase.

Student Health Services is an auxiliary enterprise and is totally dependent on the Student Health Services fee for its services to students, operations, and its portion of the shared capital cost for the 202,000 square foot building it shares with the Student Recreation Center. The $4 increase is needed for the proposed salary and benefit increase, as well as inflationary cost of software support and medical supplies.

The Student Recreation Center is an auxiliary enterprise and is totally dependent on the Recreation Center fee for its services to students, operations, and its portion of the shared capital cost of the 202,000 square foot building. The $2 increase is needed to pay for the proposed salary and benefit increase, as well as to cover inflationary costs of recreational programs and services provided to the student body.

The technology access fee (TAF) is a per semester fee required by each student to help offset a portion of the technology related cost on campus.  The fee itself covers about $4 million in classroom technology related expenses annually.  The revenue is used to supplement infrastructure costs and equipment in the classroom, computer lab equipment, break/fix expenses, lab related software, etc.  Proposals submitted each year by deans, department chairs, faculty, and IT’s classroom design and support team are currently approaching $6 million annually, which this incremental increase of $5 in the fee will help address.

A portion of the adjustment to the athletic fee ($15) will support the increased debt service on the Student Athlete Performance Center, resulting from increased interest rates that occurred after the initial financing was completed for this project.  The remaining increase of $23 will be used to fund future capital projects, such as renovations to Murphy Center.  These renovations will not be limited to athletic space but also include space used for graduations, concerts, and other campus events.

The Student Debt Service fee covers debt payments for projects supporting the University. This reduction of $10 in the fee reflects the decreased need for debt service for the Student Union Building due to refinancing of debt over the years to obtain a lower interest rate.

Efforts to Mitigate the Effect of the Tuition and Mandatory Fee Increase on Students

On December 11, 2018, the Board of Trustees approved the following factors for consideration when increases in tuition and mandatory fees are proposed:

• Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) binding tuition and mandatory fee increase ranges;
• Level of state support;
• Total cost of attendance (which includes tuition cost, mandatory fees, room and board, books, and other educational expenses);
• Efforts to mitigate the financial effect on students; and
• Other factors deemed appropriate by the University such as enrollment goals, market factors, new facility costs, new program costs, and costs related to general campus operations.

The 113^th General Assembly passed the 2023-24 General Appropriations Act, granting MTSU an increase of $3 million for outcomes productivity and $6.1 million to partially fund a five percent salary pool. 

The THEC binding tuition and mandatory fee increase for fiscal year 2023-24 is zero to three percent as approved at the May 11, 2023 Commission meeting.

Tuition and fee increases have been modest in recent years in an effort to make a degree attainable with minimal student debt.  Among the ten public state Universities, MTSU’s tuition is among one of the lowest tuition rates. The average financial aid award for undergraduate students is $10,373 with 67% of the students receiving some level of financial aid.