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Missouri State University shares legislative priorities

Students walking on the Missouri State University campus on a fall day.
Jesse Scheve
/
Missouri State University
Fall on campus. Taken on November 5, 2021. Jesse Scheve/Missouri State University

As Missouri's lawmakers get back to work next month, the University prepares to advocate for more funding.

Missouri State University President Biff Williams has released the University’s legislative priorities for fiscal year 2026.

In his weekly Words of Williams blog post Tuesday, President Williams said Missouri State has two priority requests for lawmakers in Jefferson City.

First, what he described as fair core funding for the school.

The fiscal year 2025 budget for the State includes approximately $3.3 million dollars for MSU.

Missouri’s Coordinating Board for Higher Education has recommended a core increase of 3% for all public universities. In order to cover inflation and contributions to the state pension fund MOSERS, President Williams says MSU will need a 4.7% increase.

In his statement President Williams also said MSU will advocate for fair funding on a per-student basis. He said “Missouri State consistently receives less funding on a per-student basis than other universities in the state.”

For context the four campuses of the University of Missouri system were appropriated $14.6 million in the 2025 budget.

President Williams said the University is also asking for a one-time request of $3.5 million dollars in funding through Missouri’s MoExcels program to help graduate more data science professionals.

MoExcels is a funding program from the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development that funnels money to fund specific workforce development initiatives at public colleges and universities.

For fiscal year 2025 MSU requested $1.6 million in MoExcels funding to grow its impact developing health care workers.

The Missouri legislature begins its 2025 session January 8.