Mississippi's public universities are banking on tuition increases and enrollment growth to offset shrinking state funding as they head into the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
The state College Board on Wednesday approved fiscal 2011 budgets for the eight universities. Combined, their education and general funds will be about $7.2 million less than this year.
The new budgets continue a dramatic shift toward relying more on tuition and less on state funds. In 1998, 54 percent of the total universities spent on education and general budgets came from state funds, while tuition covered 33 percent.
