Presidential Updates

Clif’s Notes for Sept. 21, 2021

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The Board of Governors Executive Committee met last week.

David Hall and I provided an update on the status of COVID-19 on campus and in our community. We are in a much better position this semester than we were last fall and last spring in terms of case counts, positivity rate and all other relevant metrics.

The board applauded all of our efforts to advocate for vaccination and adhere to the masking policy.

Helping our students

The board approved our plan to distribute federal stimulus funds to our students.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) allocated $20.8 million to the Springfield campus and $1.8 million to the West Plains campus for distribution to our students. These funds are separate from the funds allocated to the university to offset lost revenue and certain COVID-related expenditures.

We distributed a small portion of the funds to students during the summer. The board approved a plan to distribute almost all of the remaining funds.

  • Currently enrolled domestic students will receive at least $1,000.
  • Pell-eligible students will receive additional funds.
  • International students may also apply to receive funds.

We plan to disperse these funds over the next six weeks.

Movement on the underpass project

The Executive Committee also hired Nabholz Construction Corporation, a construction management at risk firm, to perform professional management services for the Grand Street Underpass project.

The board set a $3.8 million budget for the project. The board can expand that budget to include a second phase if additional funding comes available through Congressionally directed spending.

We continue to work with Rep. Billy Long to advocate for this funding.

Advocating for MSU

The Missouri Coordinating Board of Higher Education (CBHE) also met last week.

The CBHE voted to advance our proposal to offer a Doctor of Occupational Therapy program to Phase II of the comprehensive review process. I want to give a special thanks to Drs. Frank Einhellig, Julie Masterson, Mark Smith, Letitia White-Minnis, Sapna Chakraborty and everyone else who have worked tirelessly on this proposal.

The CBHE approved a rule implementing changes to the Higher Education Student Funding Act (HESFA). Public universities will no longer be limited by law to inflation on tuition increases. The revised rule goes into effect and limits a university’s ability to charge course fees in certain situations. Based on the language in the rule and our conversations with staff at MDHEWD, we do not believe the new rule will impact our tuition and fee model.

The CBHE also approved budget recommendations that will be advanced to Gov. Mike Parson.

These recommendations include:

  • An inflationary increase for public university operating appropriations.
  • A deferred maintenance allocation for each university (calculated at 3% of each university’s core operating appropriation).
  • A $9 million appropriation increase for the Access Missouri financial assistance program and an $18 million appropriation increase for the A+ dual credit scholarship program.
  • Renewal of the Fast Track enabling legislation and removal of the clawback/forgivable loan provisions in the program.

We support these recommendations and will work with Gov. Parson’s office to advocate that they be included in his budget recommendations and policy priorities when legislative session begins in January.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for May 11, 2021

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At this week’s Board of Governors meeting, I will present the Executive Budget Committee’s FY2022 budget recommendations to the board.

These recommendations include $7.5 million in benefit and compensation increases.

Among these increases is a 3% across-the-board compensation increase.

If approved by the board, this increase will go into effect:

  • On July 1 for all full-time, 12-month employees.
  • On Aug. 1 for all full-time, 9-month employees.

Only employees who are full-time on or before May 31, 2021 will receive the increase.

Cost-of-living increases

Compensation is important. With this in mind, the board and I have worked to provide cost-of-living salary increases throughout my presidency.

Unfortunately, the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic made it impossible to provide a cost-of-living pay increase last July.

The 3% pay increase recommended by the Executive Budget Committee, combined with the $600 across-the-board increase that went into effect earlier this year, recognizes the increased living costs our employees have faced since we were last able to budget a cost-of-living pay increase in July 2019.

Funding priorities for the committee

The Executive Budget Committee’s recommendations also include:

  • Enhanced dental plan benefits for employees (a Faculty Senate and Staff Senate priority for this year).
  • Salary range adjustments.
  • A minimum wage increase.
  • Salary increases under the professor salary incentive program.
  • Faculty promotions.

At the request of many members of the Executive Budget Committee, the recommendations will also restore a substantial portion of travel budgets throughout the university and unfreeze many of the currently frozen faculty and staff positions.

The Executive Budget Committee also recommended increases for several university programs, services and initiatives, including:

  • $65,000 for LinkedIn Learning.
  • More than $300,000 in technology upgrades.
  • $120,000 in additional student recruitment travel costs.
  • $300,000 in diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Board will vote in June

I will present these recommendations for discussion at the Board of Governors Finance and Facilities Committee meeting May 12.

The Board will vote on the FY2022 budget at its June meeting.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Feb. 2, 2021

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Last week Gov. Mike Parson delivered his State of the State Address and budget recommendations.

Gov. Parson’s proposed budget includes:

  • Full restoration of MSU’s $94 million operating appropriation and sources of funding.
  • Full funding for state scholarship programs.
  • $1.8 million in one-time funding through the MoExcels program to establish the Missouri Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at the Jordan Valley Innovation Center.
  • $50,000 in one-time start-up funding for an associate degree program in behavioral health support on our West Plains campus.

Legislative priorities

Gov. Parson’s proposed budget provides us with a great starting point in this year’s appropriations process.

Our top legislative priority this year is restoration of our core operating appropriation, and Gov. Parson’s recommendations include that priority. His budget also funds important student support, capital and academic needs on both of our campuses.

I hope you will join me in once again thanking Gov. Parson for his extraordinary support.

House begins work on budget

The House will now begin its work on the state’s budget. Our team has testified to the House appropriations subcommittee to advocate for the university’s priorities, and we have met with critical legislators who will form the state’s budget. We will continue to interact with lawmakers in the coming weeks and months.

COVID-19 updates

I am pleased to report that the university has administered 1,294 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

You can find updates on who is eligible to be vaccinated and information on whether the university currently has vaccine available on our COVID-19 vaccinations webpage. At present it does not appear we will receive additional vaccine from the state this week.

We have also updated our COVID-19 Information Center and dashboard. I would encourage you to take some time to review the information on those webpages, including the most up-to-date data about COVID-19 on our campus and the university’s response.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Jan. 19, 2021

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I have positive budget news to share.

In July, Gov. Mike Parson withheld $11.9 million of our state funding.

In October, Gov. Parson released $1.7 million. The board used this revenue to fund a $600 across-the-board pay increase for full-time faculty and staff hired on or before Nov. 30. The pay increase will begin this month for 12-month employees and in February for 9- and 10-month employees.

Earlier this month, Gov. Parson released the remaining $10.2 million of withheld state funds. When he released the funds, he directed that we spend $8.4 million on maintenance and repair projects.

I want to thank Gov. Parson for once again prioritizing higher education and Missouri State University when making decisions about which funds to release as the FY2021 state revenue situation came into focus.

Planning maintenance projects

The Executive Committee of the Board of Governors will meet later this week to discuss what projects to prioritize with the funds recently released by Gov. Parson.

I will recommend that the board invest $8.4 million in maintenance and repair facility projects as directed by Governor Parson and hold the remaining funds in reserves. These remaining funds — approximately $1.7 million — will then be available to allocate for FY2022, which will begin on July 1.

State FY2022 budget recommendations coming soon

These developments place us in a strong financial position as we begin to develop the university’s FY2022 budget. That budget process will begin soon.

We anticipate receiving Gov. Parson’s budget recommendations in late January. Our Executive Budget Committee will then meet in mid-February to begin assembling budget recommendations for the Board of Governors.

COVID-19 vaccination update

I also want to update you on our work regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.

The State of Missouri authorized vaccination for people in Phase 1A a few weeks ago. This group includes healthcare and long-term care facilities.

Last week and earlier this week, the state authorized vaccination for everyone in Tiers 1 and 2 of Phase 1B. This includes people 65 and older, people with certain co-morbidities, first responders, emergency services and public health infrastructure.

Unfortunately, vaccination has not yet been authorized for higher education. In the meantime, I would encourage all members of our campus community who are in Phase 1A and Tiers 1 and 2 of Phase B to get vaccinated.

The state’s decision on who can be vaccinated is only one piece of the puzzle. The other piece is the state’s decision on how to physically distribute the vaccine. Vaccine supplies are very limited.

We learned last week that we will receive a small number of COVID-19 vaccines early this week. These vaccines will be available through Magers Health and Wellness Center for employees who are eligible to be vaccinated (currently meaning they meet the requirements of Phase 1A and Tiers 1 and 2 of Phase B).

Eligible employees will sign up for this vaccination through My Missouri State online, similar to how employees sign up to receive the flu vaccination.

The university continues to work to obtain additional vaccine. As we receive additional vaccine and as additional groups of employees become eligible to be vaccinated, we will let you know through Inside Missouri State and the vaccination webpage on the COVID-19 Information Center.

View the town hall recording

Thanks to all who attended the town hall meeting last Friday. For those unable to attend, a recording of the presentation is available online.

If you have questions about the subjects discussed at the town hall meeting or any other topic, feel free to email them to me at president@missouristate.edu.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Dec. 15, 2020

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The Board of Governors met last week. They approved the compensation increases and budget adjustments I discussed in my last two Clif’s Notes.

Tuition changes

I also presented a new tuition and fee model for discussion. Currently, the university charges in-state undergraduate students $228 for seated classes and $299 for online classes. The university has developed a plan to charge the same tuition rate for seated and online classes.

Charging one rate will be fairer and more transparent for students. It will eliminate financial impact on students when the decision is made for a particular class to be online. It also recognizes that the line between “online” and “seated” classes has blurred.

The plan I presented would change the tuition rate for all in-state undergraduate students to $250. Students taking at least one seated class would be charged fees that are consistent with the current fee schedule. Students taking only online courses would be charged a new fee that is substantially lower.

This proposal will have minimal impact on most students. Under the new model, the average in-state undergraduate student would pay $50 less than under the current tuition and fee model.

The proposal is also revenue neutral on tuition, meaning it would net the university the same tuition revenue as the current model. The new online student fee generates some additional revenue, but it recaptures only about half of the fee revenue that has been lost over the past two years as students gradually migrated to online classes.

The proposal would also preserve MSU’s cost advantage by continuing to price tuition and fees below MSU’s major competitors.

The board discussed and provided feedback on this proposed model. Those discussions will continue in the coming months. The board will vote on tuition and fees for the 2021-22 academic year in the spring.

SEM Plan

The board discussed and approved the Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan. The plan includes four measurable goals in the following categories:

  • Outreach and recruitment.
  • Retention and student success.
  • Successful graduation and completion.
  • Financial preparedness.

The plan also includes strategies to attain each goal. The plan establishes a committee structure that will implement the plan throughout the coming months and years.

The board and our leadership team are pleased with the final SEM Plan and proud of the work we have done to chart our pathway forward on enrollment. I want to say a special thanks to the SEM Plan co-chairs Dr. Tammy Jahnke and Dr. Rob Hornberger, the SEM Steering Committee, and others who served on committees and otherwise engaged in the SEM Plan process.

Reviewing the budget

The board reviewed the FY2021 budget.

Due to Gov. Mike Parson’s release of withheld appropriations, cost saving measures that have been implemented and fall enrollment numbers exceeding projections, the Springfield operating fund is $5.5 million ahead of budget and the West Plains operating fund is $300,000 ahead of budget. These totals include more than $4.5 million in university reserves that were allocated when the board originally approved the FY2021 budget in June.

COVID-19 policy updates

I provided the board with an update on the impacts of COVID-19 on our campus.

As part of that update, I advised the board that we have eliminated the COVID-19 Work and Compensation Policy and updated five other temporary policies:

Board appointments

Finally, the board approved the executive committee, and Gov. Counts announced board committee appointments for 2021:

  • Govs. Counts, Silvey, Frazier and Waters will serve on the Executive Committee.
  • Gov. Waters will chair the Finance and Facilities Committee.
  • Gov. Parman will chair the Programs and Planning Committee.
  • Gov. Silvey will chair the Risk Management and Audit Committee.
  • Gov. Frazier will serve as the board representative to the MSU Foundation.

The end of the calendar year also marks the end of outgoing board member’s terms. The board recognized Govs. Gore, Keltner and Tergin for their service on the Board of Governors. I have enjoyed working with each of them, and they will be greatly missed when their replacements are appointed and confirmed.

Save the date

Before we leave for winter break I wanted to let you know about an upcoming event. At 3 p.m. Jan. 15 we will host a virtual town hall meeting to discuss our COVID-19 response, plans for the spring semester and other topics. We will distribute the Zoom link and other details in January.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!