| I
hope that in this beautiful autumn season you are
in great health and full of true Bobcat spirit.
This Collegian edition gives me a timely opportunity
to keep you up-to-date on news from MSU. |
| On
the recruitment front, our freshman class is the
largest in MSU's history, and we are hosting a total
student population of nearly 12,000, another record.
We kicked off the academic year with Move-In Day.
Faculty, staff and administrators from across the
campus, as well as community members, volunteered
to help arriving students and their families move
their belongings into the residence halls. Believe
me, the assortment of items was interesting, ranging
from refrigerators to live turtles. The success
of this day is indicative of how fully the entire
campus and our Bozeman neighbors have embraced the
importance of supporting student success--I couldn't
be prouder of our community. |
| MSU
now has a new face--a major redesign of the MSU
Web site has just been completed. These changes
have been made with you in mind to make it easier
to access the information you want. Please visit
the site soon. |
| These
past few months much attention has been focused
on state government budget reductions. On the Bozeman
campus, we have developed plans for dealing with
a $3.6 million reduction to our state funding for
this fiscal year, amounting to 9.8 percent of our
general operating budget. |
| We
are fortunate to have a solid planning process that
has been successfully implemented. Our University
Planning, Budget and Analysis Committee (UPBAC)
has enabled us to base the university's decision-making
on institutional priorities which have campus wide
support. Our priority is to protect the quality
of academic programs and student services, while
adhering to the Board of Regents guideline that
no more than 50 percent of the total reduction be
backfilled with a tuition surcharge. |
| Our
student leadership has endorsed our priorities,
preferring to pay a greater surcharge in order to
continue receiving the quality educational experience
that originally attracted them to MSU. The fall
semester surcharge is $2/credit, up to a maximum
of $24. For spring semester, the surcharge will
increase to $16.25/credit, up to a maximum of $199.80.
All UPBAC documents can be viewed on the MSU Web
site at www.montana.edu. |
| I
appreciate the dedication of our legislators and
their commitment to addressing the interests of
Montanans. In the next legislative session, our
legislature will again be faced with very difficult
decisions. It is clear to me that the current revenue
streams for state government will not sustain a
minimum level of services in all sectors of state
government, and I am encouraged by the executive
and legislative efforts to address the revenue side
of the state's budget. |
| Let
me wish you a fresh, colorful autumn filled with
lots of Blue and Gold pride. |
 |
| Geoff
Gamble, MSU President |
