The Institutions of Higher Learning request measures $72.5 million above what the university system received in their FY2013 budget and includes:
- An increase of $4.4 million in state financial aid compared to the FY2013 funding levels;
- An increase of $46.1 million for on and off campus operations of the state’s 8 campuses;
- An increase of $16.6 million for the University Medical Center and;
- And increase of $5.6 million for other bills such as university agricultural units.
Commissioner Bounds and the university presidents regularly mentioned that adequate resources are increasingly vital to the competitiveness of the salaries that universities can offer to current and potential faculty. Average faculty salaries across Mississippi’s universities are $8,558 the regional average, and the gap between Mississippi and the region had widened since 2000 (see chart). Bounds also noted concerns about class sizes and funding for facility updates through the presentation.
Bounds noted that he is “worried about the future of the university system, and worried about its effects on economic development”. Currently, the university system generated over 52,700 direct and indirect jobs across the state.¹ Alongside community colleges, universities are also a key provider of educational pathways to quality wages and a more skilled workforce.
For several years, Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning have stressed that the hardship placed on universities, their faculty and their students in the form of tuition is not sustainable in the long-term. In a climate of limited resources, Mississippi’s leaders have struggled to meet those needs, and today’s presentation by the university leadership underscored that pathways that consider generating additional revenue must be considered, so vital state services do not proceed through another budget year underfunded.
¹Mississippi State Institutions of Higher Learning. Joint Legislative Budget Committee. September 18, 2012
