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IHL board approves tuition, room and board and salary‑guideline items; Jackson State to add student health fee
Summary
Trustees approved salary‑guideline language, a set of tuition, room and board and fee requests across the system and a new Jackson State student health and wellness fee, with board staff recommending a waiver of the board’s 30‑day review for some items.
The Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approved guidance for fiscal‑year 2026 salary decisions, multiple campus tuition and auxiliary rate requests, and a new student health and wellness fee at Jackson State University.
Trustees approved salary‑guideline criteria that allow increases based on meritorious performance, market adjustments and promotions; the guidance does not itself authorize systemwide pay raises but sets the policy criteria institutions must use when awarding increases.
Why it matters
Board staff summarized tuition, room and board and fee requests for each campus. Several institutions requested no resident tuition increase; others asked for modest increases tied to campus needs. Jackson State requested a 6% tuition increase with an itemized line for campus safety. Board staff explained that some regional institutions continue to publish identical resident and nonresident rates under a waiver previously approved by the board beginning in 2013.
Trustees discussed auxiliary items, including meal plans and residence‑hall debt service. Board staff noted that room charges often reflect debt service on residence construction and that meal‑plan adjustments in some places stem from contractual thresholds triggered during the pandemic.
Jackson State student health fee
Jackson State’s proposed student health and wellness fee was presented as an item to fund staffing of a student health center, technology and expanded mental‑health services; the packet projected the fee would raise roughly $963,000 for the university. Board staff recommended approval of items 7, 8 and 10 and requested a waiver of the board policy’s 30‑day review period for final adoption of tuition and fee items; trustees approved the waiver and the items.
Board action
A motion to approve the salary guideline, the tuition/fee/room requests and the Jackson State fee was made, seconded and carried by voice vote. Board staff said institutions will continue to implement increases within the approved guidance and report as required by board policy.
Ending
Trustees requested that staff continue to provide comparative tuition and faculty‑compensation information to show how Mississippi institutions compare to contiguous states and SREB peers; staff noted the board’s continued interest in faculty compensation metrics when approving tuition and fee requests.
