Regents Told That Act Will Require Tuition Hikes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tuition increases will be needed as the Tennessee Board of Regents implements a General Assembly act designed to improve graduation rates in the state, TBR Chancellor Charles Manning said Wednesday.

He told the board that higher tuition will be necessary to efficiently carry out the Complete College Act.

"That's the big challenge," Manning said.

The act, passed this year, includes changes to the state's higher education funding formula to stress graduation rates instead of enrollment figures. It also created a statewide transfer policy so any student who earns a two-year degree at a community college can move on to a four-year university as a junior.

Regents officials told the board they are making progress in fulfilling the act, which has deadlines from 2011 to 2013.

Dale Sims, a regents vice chancellor, said the agency does not expect additional state funds.

"The model (plan) will just be used to distribute dollars that are there," he said.

Paula Short, another vice chancellor, told the board that it's already easier for community college students to transfer to four-year schools.

Additionally, she said the TBR staff has carried out a mandate in the act to remove remedial courses from four-year institutions and shift them to community colleges.

The TBR is composed of 45 institutions including six universities: Memphis, Austin Peay State, Tennessee State, Middle Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and East Tennessee State. There also are 13 community colleges and 26 technology centers.

According to the TBR website, the board oversees the sixth largest system of public higher education in the country. There are more than 190,000 students and 15,500 full-time employees.

Also Wednesday, the 17-member board heard from Dr. Carolyn Baldwin Tucker, chairwoman of the Tennessee State University Alumni Association, about the school's pending reaccreditation.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reported this year that Tennessee State lacks basic qualifications in two areas to be reaccredited. The accrediting agency said the school must prove it measures what students are learning, and must be able to show that it is financially stable.

Tucker said the school needs to reduce "low producing programs" with faculty members helping in that evaluation.

She also said a new Tennessee State president, yet to be selected, needs to be fully informed about the school's accounting procedures.

Losing accreditation, she said, "would be a travesty. Potential students would not even come."

Tucker said she wanted future generations to enroll at the school and "be able to sing the alma mater."