Morehead State University may soon be receiving a boost in revenue. However, tuition is going up at the same time.
The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education recently approved tuition and mandatory fee proposals submitted by Kentucky universities, including Morehead.
Officials said tuition ceilings previously set by the Council limit tuition at public four-year institutions to increase by no more than 5 percent over two years or no more than 3 percent in any one year.
MSU President Jay Morgan pointed to the rising costs of utilities, repairs, and inflation across all sectors to explain the need to raise tuition next school year.
“1.9% increase for tuition, 3% increase for housing going into next year which is still low compared to what many of our sisters across the state are doing,” said Morgan.
This is on top of the money the institution has received from the state budget. MSU is getting funding to support facility repairs and money to build a new ground array for the Space Science Center.
However, that funding and future revenue are not translating into employee pay raises or new personnel. Morgan said the general assembly does not appropriate money in the budget for pay or supporting new positions.
“Unfortunately, they didn’t throw a whole lot of new money at us to do those types of things. We’re going to have to raise it through tuition fees and other things, unfortunately. About 70% of our total budget comes from tuition fees and about 30% comes from the state,” said Morgan.
After the increase, tuition for full time in-state undergraduate students at MSU will be $4,849 dollars compared to the University of Kentucky’s current tuition of $13,212 dollars for undergraduate in-state students.