Meyer said there is always concern that a tuition increase might discourage kids from going to school. Early indications seem to be that there is strong interest in our university programs. Besides increasing faculty salaries, the tuition increase will also be used for equipping new and renovated facilities, and paying for inflationary increases on items such as library books, magazines, utilities and travel. Often in recent years faculty have bought supplies out of their own pocket due to budget shortfalls. Faculty travel has also been curtailed.
Higher education being a very people-oriented business, most of the costs go into salaries.
It is important to support faculty with diverse interests and abilities. These added dollars will enable university presidents to do such things as hire faculty in the high-demand areas, provide some resources in libraries and other areas of universities that have high need, and allow universities to have more resources for year 2000 computer glitch, which is costly to address. Meyer said that there is a need throughout the state to serve adult students as well as the traditional-age college student. The tuition increase will allow the universities to have more faculty and staff available at off-campus centers as well as university centers. It was becoming a situation where more revenue was absolutely needed in order to continue to make progress.