Leaders from Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning asked a Senate appropriations subcommittee in Jackson for an across-the-system funding increase and flagged growing maintenance and insurance costs as immediate pressures.

The system’s commissioner, Doctor Rankins, told the subcommittee the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) are requesting a 16% increase over fiscal year 2025 “to address faculty salaries, the increase in PERS employee contribution, the increase in insurance and other inflationary cost,” and to support a facilities management plan and the system’s Complete to Compete (C2C) initiative.

The request is part of a broader presentation in which Rankins said the university board has maintained oversight and that the system holds an A2 credit rating from Moody’s Financial Services. He said system initiatives have produced more than $330,000,000 in savings and that universities awarded over 19,000 degrees in 2024, a nearly 16% increase since 2014.

Why it matters: university presidents told the panel that pay and enrollment trends are the system’s top fiscal risks. Mark Keenum, president of Mississippi State University, said pay remains below regional peers and that even modest raises create large budgetary needs: “For us to give a 1% pay raise at Mississippi State, it cost us about $3,900,000,” he said, adding that inflation and other operating-cost increases multiply that pressure.

Deferred maintenance and facilities: Rankins described a long-standing deferred-maintenance backlog. A 2016 assessment showed about $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance; Rankins said a recent preliminary report shows the 10-year backlog is “stable” but remains “1,000,000,000 plus” and that SightLines previously recommended $100 million to $200 million annually to halt growth of the backlog.

Insurance and large deductibles: Rankins and David Buford, IHL director of risk management, said insurance markets and rising construction costs have driven premiums and out-of-pocket deductibles sharply higher. Rankins gave campus examples: an ice storm at the University of Mississippi in 2024 caused more than $4,000,000 in damage with a then-deductible of $250,000 that he said would be $2,500,000 in 2025; a 2023 hailstorm at Delta State caused $8,500,000 in damage and Rankins said the deductible would be $6,000,000 today versus $250,000 two years earlier. Buford said the system is exploring options, including an internal pool for catastrophic deductibles, but must coordinate with FEMA and MEMA to avoid jeopardizing federal reimbursements.

Enrollment and the “cliff”: multiple presidents warned of demographic pressures. Joe Paul, president of the University of Southern Mississippi, and Dan Ennis of Delta State emphasized the “enrollment cliff” and the need to recruit adult learners; Ennis urged policymakers to consider expanding MTAG eligibility and other policies so part-time and stopped-out students can return to degree programs. Rankins said universities have submitted campus plans to address the decline and offered to share them with the committee.

Bond and capital requests: Senator Parks asked about the IHL bond request; Rankins confirmed the system’s bond request figure for 2025 is correct and identified it as $126,000,000 as part of a multiyear plan. The total system funding-request figure shown on a slide was referred to verbally as “1,350” on the slide; Rankins did not state explicit units or clarify that figure during the hearing.

What the subcommittee asked for: senators pressed IHL on whether the board has a policy that requires campuses to address deferred maintenance before new construction; Rankins said there is no single board policy but individual universities budget annually for routine repair and renovation and the system monitors an “age of facilities” metric and provides feedback to campuses.

Next steps: Rankins said the system will share campus plans addressing the enrollment decline with the subcommittee and that risk-management staff are working with FEMA/MEMA and consultants before establishing any internal insurance pool.

Ending: Presidents thanked legislators for recent appropriations that enabled raises at many campuses while urging sustained, incremental state support to avoid large tuition increases and to retain faculty.