In the wake of a global economic downturn and a devastating tornado, Missouri Southern administrators must find a way  to ease the school’s financial frustrations. Enrollment and retention, already in a slump last fall, have seen a larger decrease this spring.

Compared to last spring, the number of students enrolled this semester is down 4.8 percent, and the number of credit hours enrolled is down percent.

Solutions for economic woes evade Southern administrators, who are still in the mode of asking questions and generating ideas.

 “Part of it is asking how we can be more efficient with quality,”  Dr. AJ Anglin, vice president for academic affairs, said.

“What are you not going to deliver on that we normally expect? Efficiency doesn’t mean we can’t have better quality. They’re not mutually exclusive,” Anglin said.

The proposed efficiency will likely be seen in raised tuition costs and increased class sizes. Southern has relied on low costs and small class sizes in the past to attract potential students.

Vice president of student affairs Darren Fullerton feels Southern administrators should remain aware of tuition prices.

“We have marketed and hung our hat on low tuition rather than quality programs,” Fullerton said.

Due to state funding cuts to higher education, however, tuition hikes will not generate the funds needed to salvage Southern’s budget, and when tuition prices reach a certain point, the school loses state funding.

“When you’re talking about a couple-million-dollars-plus that we have to come up with just to meet the proposed cuts from the governor, I don’t know that our students would be able to assume that entire cost,” Fullerton said.

Gov. Nixon proposed a 12.5 percent budget cut to higher education. However, a one-time infusion of 40 million dollars from the federal government reduces that cut to just under 8 percent.

“That’s the good news,” Anglin said. “The bad news is that we’ve only kicked the can down the road, because that money won’t be there next year.”

The Budget Advisory Committee, along with the president’s council, is, in Fullerton’s words, “calling out for suggestions, ideas to generate revenue, whether it be adding a new program or increasing class sizes, whatever it might be to cuts, and where we could potentially cut.”

Administration officials began a new policy of charging print fees to curb mounting financial struggles, which saved the school about $80,000.00. “That’s one position saved, if you look at it in dollar amount,” Fullerton said.

Over the course of one month, however, dean of graduate programs Jo Kroll resigned. Dean of education, Glenn Coltharp, also resigned to take a position at Crowder College. But these resignations, according to Anglin, are not related to budget cuts.

“The two department chairs are going to continue doing their department-chair roles, but they’re also going to do the dean’s roles,” Anglin said.

At present, there are no plans to fill the empty positions.

“In the case of graduate studies and lifelong learning, I’ve appointed Scott Schnell as the interim director,” Anglin said. “I won’t replace that position with a dean.”

Anglin says considering Southern’s future monetary situation is like looking through a “crystal ball.”

“We’re resilient,” he continues. “We know how to get through the storm … we need to continue to ask, ‘What’s the real impact on our mission and the impact on the learning experience of our students?’”