For the Fall 2017 semester, I was encouraged to see we had a 3.87 percent increase in new freshmen, 4.99 percent rise in new transfers, 7.82 percent growth in new graduate students, and an uptick of 4.54 percent in new students overall.

Our total enrollment was relatively at compared to the previous year, which re ected our hard work to hold steady in the third year of the Tennessee Promise, a last-dollar scholarship program that covers tuition and fees for high school seniors wishing to enroll in the state’s community and technical colleges.

We received an increase of $3.5 million in state appropriations, which is based on outcomes formula adjustments and new funds for higher education. That new money, coupled with about $3.9 million resulting from tuition increases, helped offset the $1.5 million reduction that came as a result of our 1.11 percent decrease in full-time equivalency. These new funds were allocated to pay for:

•A mandated 3% salary pool increase

•Faculty promotions

•Increased cost of software maintenance agreements

•Scholarships, tuition discounts, employee fee waivers and dependent discounts, and graduate assistant fee waivers

•Funding for new startup programs and continuing improvements on the MTSU Quest for Student Success initiatives

Looking toward the 2018–19 fiscal year, MTSU’s share of the THEC outcomes formula adjustment will be a decrease of $706,000. However, THEC voted at its November meeting to propose new state funding totaling $55 million for the higher education formula institutions. If approved, MTSU’s share of the proposed new funding would be $5.2 million. Thus, MTSU’s state funding could actually increase by $4.5 million.

THEC’s recommendations have been submitted to the Department of Finance and Administration for consideration in the proposed state budget that Gov. Bill Haslam will be submitting to the state legislature in the coming weeks. At that point, we will have more information regarding our likely 2018–19 state appropriations.