"Tuition freezes have long had political appeal, and a plan to halt hikes for a second consecutive year in Missouri has been met with predictable applause from students and their families. But even supporters of tuition freezes within higher education concede they are unsustainable. Indeed, historic trends suggest a few years of stable tuition can lead to dramatic single-year increases, which startle continuing students and punish an incoming cohort charged with making up for the lost revenues of prior years."Michael Nietzel, president of Missouri State University, is aware of all the potential pitfalls of halting tuition hikes. Even so, Nietzel has joined the state’s other university and community college presidents in an agreement to freeze tuition in exchange for a promise from Gov. Jay Nixon that their budgets will be cut no more than 5 percent next year.
“Talking to presidents in other states about this, I know a number of them who would like our deal,” Nietzel said.
But the very nature of the Missouri presidents’ deal suggests the tuition “freeze” is really nothing more than a deferment. Under the agreement, public colleges would still be permitted to approve tuition increases “on the books,” so long as they don’t charge it to students this year. That’s significant in Missouri, where colleges require permission from the commissioner of higher education to increase tuition more than the rate of inflation in a given year. By approving an inflation-level increase this year -- probably about 3 percent -- Missouri colleges will build in a higher base tuition from which to impose additional increases in future years.
