State lawmakers approve budget with nearly 7 percent cut to colleges, universities - Rudi Keller, Columbia Daily Tribune

State appropriations to colleges and universities will be cut almost 7 percent in the coming year but it appears students will be making up only part of the shortfall. State lawmakers on Thursday approved budget bills funding state government in the year beginning July 1. The spending plan for higher education provides slightly more than Gov. Eric Greitens’ proposed in February and funds several initiatives, including $10.8 million for the University of Missouri System that the governor did not recommend. None of the four-year state universities that have approved tuition increases for the fall have gone above the inflation cap set in state law and none are likely to do so, said Paul Wagner, executive director of the Council on Public Higher Education. http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/20170505/state-lawmakers-approve-budget-with-nearly-7-percent-cut-to-colleges-universities