MSA

The University of Missouri operates with lower state funding levels than it received in 2001, while educating 17,000 more students. In the last 20 years, students have paid 21 percent more toward university operations (from 27% to 48%), and the state has paid 28% less (from 64% to 36%). Stand up and take a stand against this trend that burdens students with more debt and more costs every year. And make sure state legislators know they can’t balance the state budget on the backs of students.

Sign our online petition: “A Petition to Oppose a 12.5% State Funding Cut for the University of Missouri”

How to write a letter to a state representative or senator

Writing a letter to a state lawmaker is one of the single most significant steps you can take to stand up for the student voice on this issue. Each letter should specifically state your opinion of the proposed 12.5 percent cut to state funding for the University of Missouri System and why the issue is important to you. At the bottom of this page, we’ve included facts and figures to work into your letter.

Below are two sample letters, meant to give you guidance on writing your own letter. Although it’s more effective to write an original letter, you can also use these sample letters with your own name and address if you wish.

Sample Letter A

Sample Letter B

You can also check out the MSA resolution passed by our student Senate on Jan. 25 by clicking here.

If you are a Missouri resident, please write a letter to your own representative or senator. Click here to find your state senator. Click here to find your state representative on the right sidebar. If you are not a resident of Missouri, we ask you to write to a member of either the House Budget Committee or the Senate Appropriations Committee. You can also view a sample letter to Gov. Jay Nixon and a sample letter for an out-of-state student below.

Sample letter to Gov. Jay Nixon

Sample letter to a state senator

You don’t have to send the letter yourself. Letters can be emailed to Senate Speaker Jake Sloan at jmsy92@mail.missouri.edu or dropped off at the Center for Student Involvement front desk on the second floor of the Student Center.

Below, we’ve listed a few relevant facts and statistics (and their sources) that can be included in letters. Contact Jake Sloan or Director of Student Communications Zach Toombs at zachtoombs@gmail.com with any questions.

- Missouri currently ranks 45th in state funding for higher education

- Gov. Nixon’s plan would result in a 25 percent cut to UM System funding over the next year and the two previous years

- Gov. Nixon’s proposed cuts would reduce state funding for higher education to its lowest level since 1997

- compared to 20 years ago, students pay 21% more of the university’s operations budget (from 27% to 48%), while the state pays 28% less than it did (from 64% to 36%)

- Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, has estimated the cut would result in a loss of $22 million from Columbia’s economy

- UM System curators, including Wayne Goode, have publicly said the cuts could result in a tuition increase for students higher than the rate of inflation

- further sizable cuts to the UM System budget could also result in larger class sizes, fewer full-time faculty members employed by the university, and over-burdening of teaching assistants

- Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, has said the cuts could damage the UM System’s reputation as a research university “for decades to come”

- UM System interim President Steve Owens has expressed his disappointment with the proposal, saying, “It is fair to ask how long we can continue to do more with less.”

- regarding the proposed cuts, MU Chancellor Brady Deaton has said, “The university has been doing so much with less funding on an ongoing basis. There are limits as to how far we can go.”

- Nikki Krawitz, vice president of finance and administration for the UM System, said in December 2011 that the system was already facing an estimated $78 million budget shortfall in 2013

Sources:

MU Budget Director Tim Rooney (1/25/12)

The Columbia Daily Tribune: http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/jan/17/nixons-budget-hits-higher-ed-hard/?news http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/jan/18/um-looks-budgets-potential-tuition-impact/?news

Columbia Missourian http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/01/19/george-kennedy-closing-gap-between-rhetoric-and-reality-will-be-challenge/ http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/01/18/um-system-responds-gov-nixons-proposed-higher-education-cuts/