Governor Jay Nixon (D) is warning Missouri’s college administrators not to raise tuition to make up the difference in budget cuts he announced this week during his annual State of the State Address.

The governor wants to cut the state’s Higher Education budget by nearly $106 million, or 12.5 percent.  During his address Tuesday he indicated that he wants universities to leave tuition levels where they are.

“By the next decade, nearly two-thirds of all jobs in the United States will require some kind of post-secondary education…that means more Missouri kids will need a college degree, but too many families simply can’t afford the cost of a college education.”

Tuition hikes in Missouri are limited by law to the annual inflation rate, unless an institution gets permission from the state’s Higher Education Commissioner to raise it beyond that amount.  Last year, Governor Nixon withheld money from universities that he felt excessively raised tuition.

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