MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Northwest Missouri State University’s Board of Regents during its regular meeting Friday approved tuition and fees for the 2015-2016 academic year in addition to approving a series of curriculum and policy updates.
The Board unanimously approved a tuition increase of 0.8 percent for undergraduate students, which matches the consumer price index and is the maximum allowed by Missouri Senate Bill 389 for undergraduate in-state resident tuition and fees. Graduate tuition and fees for fall 2015 will increase by 1.5 percent.
Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski noted the University’s tuition and fee increases are the lowest in the nation during the last five years, while the satisfaction of students and level of education remains high, as evidenced by Northwest placement rates of about 98 percent for undergraduate degree earners and 99 percent for graduate degree earners.
“We’ve done a great job of being responsible stewards of taxpayer money, focusing on affordability and access with quality,” Jasinski told the Board.
Northwest’s 2015-2016 tuition and fees will be $281.96 per credit hour for in-state undergraduate students and $492.64 for out-of-state undergraduate students. For graduate students, tuition and fees will increase to $358.96 for in-state students and $611.82 for out-of-state students.
The Board also approved a series of per-student-credit-hour fee increases, as approved by Northwest’s Student Senate, including a minimum wage increase of 30 cents per credit hour for student employees and a capital improvement fee increase of $4.35 to support facility improvements and repairs.
The Board also approved the Student Senate’s recommendation to eliminate Northwest’s 50-cent readership fee, which provided print editions of regional and national newspapers in some campus buildings. In requesting the fee’s removal, the Student Senate cited students’ migration to reading online-based news articles.
Vice President of Finance Stacy Carrick commended the Student Senate’s diligence to study and discuss the impacts of the fees, particularly the capital improvement fee.
“The students have continued to reach out to us and help us fund much-needed improvements across campus,” Carrick said. “I’m very proud of our students and their approach. They had very good conversations and took a pay-it-forward approach to approve that fee.”
Room and board rates will increase by an average of 3 percent based on Northwest’s apartment, suite or residence-hall style of housing. Meal plans will increase an average of 3.3 percent, based on the range of meal plans offered, including residential and block meal plans.
Among the curriculum changes, the Board approved the deletion of two undergraduate majors, psychology/sociology and public administration, and the creation of two majors in their place. The new human services major will replace psychology/sociology to better prepare undergraduate students for graduate programs in that field as well as students wanting to transition directly into social and human services careers. Similarly, a new political science major will replace the comprehensive public administration major and offer three emphasis areas – public administration, criminal justice and global affairs.
In other business, the Board approved the University’s 2017-2018 academic calendar and the renewal of a three-year contract with Educational Benchmarking Incorporated to administer service satisfaction surveys. The Board also approved updates to the University’s nondiscrimination and equal employment opportunity statement and to its tuition and fees policy for uniformed services veterans and qualified dependents.
The Board of Regents is responsible for sound resource management of the University and determining general, educational and financial policies.