Tuition increases for fall semester
Changes to classes influencing GPA to go in effect next fall By Nicole Roberts The Standard @NReneeRoberts
By Kelsey Kane For The Standard
Missouri State students might notice slight changes in the cost of credit hours next semester as the Missouri State Board of Governors approved tuition and parking permit increases for the 2015-16 school year on March 12. Undergraduate resident tuition will increase from $204 to $205 per credit hour and will increase about 2 percent for undergraduate out-of-state students and for all graduate students. Student service fees will increase $11 per student, per semester. On-campus room and board will also see an increase of a combined 2.5 percent.
Additionally, the West Plains campus will see increases from $114 to $119 per credit hour for Missouri resident students and from $228 to $238 for non-Missouri residents. Despite the increases, MSU tuition is still well below the state and national averages. According to the College Board, a not-forprofit organization, average in-state tuition and fees for a public, four-year college for the 2014-15 school year amounted to $9,139. According to Missouri State, tuition for the same school year was $7,060. Average out-ofstate tuition was $22,958, and at Missouri State it was $13,930. More noticeably at MSU, parking permit
costs will be raised by 20 percent— the first time they’ve increased since 2006. This will include a $19 increase in commuter parking permits, from $96 to $115 per school year, and a $32 increase in residence hall parking permits, from $156 to $188 per school year. Alternatively, a new “orange permit” will be offered for an annual rate of $65 for faculty and students to park in perimeter lots 39, 51 and 52 and will be available to purchase starting July 1. The increases are expected to generate $900,000 in operating revenue for the 201516 school year.
SPD investigates reports of naked intruder in Hammons By Rose Marthis The Standard @RoseMarthis
Since Feb. 4, there have been eight reported incidents of a male intruder entering, or attempting to enter, female rooms in Hammons House. Reports from the Springfield Police Department have varying descriptions for each incident, many saying that a suspicious naked man has approached
female residents in their rooms. The reports described “female residents reporting a suspicious male who had knocked on their door,” a man “exposed himself to a victim in a residence hall study room,” “a nude male subject entered dorm room and touched female before fleeing” and “a male had entered (a female room) and started removing her clothes and blankets while she was sleeping.” One report said the man was
wearing nothing but a black ski mask when he entered a female room. Suzanne Shaw, the vice president for marketing and communications for the university, said the university is working in conjunction with Springfield police to visit Hammons residents about safety and security. Hammons implemented a Lock Your Door campaign with posters and resident assistants randomly checking for locked
doors to educate residents. Shaw also said they are working to provide resources, counseling and support to victims of these incidents. The incident reports are from midnight to 4 a.m., hours when a key card is required for entry into residence halls and visitors are documented. Shaw said the intruder is assumed to be one person. See expanded story on the-standard.org
The GPA requirements for major and minor classes can be confusing. The classes required for your major and minor count toward your major and minor GPA but so do elective courses only if they have the department’s prefixes. If the electives don’t have the department’s prefixes, they will not influence your major and minor GPA. While those electives affect your major and minor GPA, the courses required for your major and minor that you transferred in did not influence your GPA... even though it’s required for your major and minor. Trying to remember all of that on top of other requirements for courses and scholarships can be hard. An administrative council at Missouri State noticed this and decided to fix it. There will be changes to the major and minor GPA requirements in Missouri State’s general baccalaureate degree requirements policy starting the fall 2015 semester. Three changes to the policy will ensure that students’ major and minor GPAs will only be influenced by courses that are required for their majors and minors. The first change: Grades transferred in from another school will be included in students’ major and minor GPA. Students originally had to have a 2.00 GPA in courses that counted toward their majors and minors but only if the courses were through MSU. If the courses were transferred in from another school, that course’s GPA was not counted in the major or minor GPA. Nathan Hoff, associate registrar for degree programs and advisement support, said this change will eliminate any disadvantages students could experience when taking major or minor courses through MSU. “A student who is just short of meeting a major or minor GPA could have improved their GPA in two ways,” Hoff said. “Through MSU, the student could have repeated a (course that they earned a bad grade in originally) and earned a higher grade. Through transfer, the student could have repeated the same course and earned the (same original low grade) in transfer but would have improved their major or minor GPA because transfer grades did not count. Therefore, the student had to earn a higher grade if the course was taken at MSU to improve the major or minor GPA.” The second change: A course will not automatically count toward students’ major or minor GPAs just because the course starts with the department’s prefix. For example, if an English major wants to take an ENG course that is not required for their major, that course will not count toward the student’s major GPA. The original baccalaureate degree policy stated students had to acquire a 2.00 GPA in the courses not only required for the major and minor, but also any course that had the department’s prefix.
See GPA, page 9
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