Mizzou is still clueless.
The University of Missouri-Columbia is cutting the cost of some on-campus housing options starting next fall.
That’s one of many changes campus leaders announced Friday, along with new, reduced meal plan options and several others that they hope will make dorms more appealing to returning students.
Room rates for about one-third of on-campus living options are dropping from 2.2 percent to 5 percent, depending on location. Those dorm options that aren’t decreasing in cost will remain flat.
Dining costs for some plans are also changing. New options could help reduce costs by at least $300.
It’s a risk, but one that leaders think is worth taking.
“This year is an investment year to gain back trust in that this university is the University for Missouri,” Mizzou chief operating officer Gary Ward told the Post-Dispatch. “We hear families saying the cost of education is high. We will continue to look for ways — not just in student affairs and operations, but institutionally — to change that.”
This is the third cost-related announcement University of Missouri leaders have made since June.
The first move was the open-educational resources model that piloted free online textbooks for 10 classes across the four university campuses and encouraged professors to explore how they can adopt such resources in their own classes.
In August, the flagship campus rolled out the so-called ‘Land Grants,’ which offer low-income students grants to cover the cost of tuition and fees. Students who are enrolled in the Honors College who also come from low-income households will have their tuition and fees plus room and board covered through the grants.
Ward said people should get used to these types of changes. It ties back to a message he’s shared frequently at board meetings: it’s time to be good stewards when it comes to money.
“There are families sitting around the table at night talking about affordability issues,” he explained, adding Mizzou has a responsibility as a public university to make these types of changes.