STARKVILLE – A year of austerity looks to be on the horizon for the state’s public universities, and Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum isn’t happy about it.
In a letter Keenum sent Tuesday to faculty, staff and students, Keenum openly criticized cuts to higher education reflected in the state’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which the legislature approved in a special legislative session last week.
“It is very disheartening to see this lack of support when the State of Mississippi is in great fiscal shape and seeing record-setting economic development,” Keenum wrote.
Keenum cited a 1.1% cut in university funding from the previous year’s allocations. Jon Sewell, director of communications for Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, said this 1.1% reflects the budget’s $5.02 million reduction on IHL funding, which was passed during the special session.
The total funding recommendation by IHL for the state’s nine public universities was roughly $1.47 billion, far short of the $1.7 billion requested.
“Of course, when you factor in annual inflation, that amounts to a reduction of more than 5% in our operations budget for the coming year,” Keenum wrote in his letter.
The allocations for each university will not be officially approved until the IHL’s June 19 meeting, though Sewell said these cuts could lead to downstream consequences for universities – whose fiscal year begins July 1.
“The overall funding cuts will present challenges to all universities with regard to capital improvements as well as maintenance of existing infrastructure,” Sewell said in an email to The Dispatch.
Keenum wrote that funding shortfalls in the state’s budget also impact faculty salaries and routine maintenance and repairs on campus.
The average faculty salaries are roughly 30% below those at peer institutions, and that with no new funding designated for state capital improvement projects, the university’s planned growth will be delayed, Keenum’s letter continues.
Keenum noted that these budget cuts come at a time that the state is sitting on a “billion-dollar surplus in unrestricted funding.”
Nora Miller, president of Mississippi University for Women, declined to comment on the issue until IHL budget allocations are approved.
Economic uncertainty
District 17 State Sen. Chuck Younger, R-Lowndes County, sympathized with Keenum’s concerns but pointed to broader budgetary challenges facing all state institutions.
“If we’re not paying the professors as much as the other institutions around us, I understand why you can be a little bit mad about it,” Younger told The Dispatch. “At the same time, all of these colleges keep building … more buildings. You got to keep those buildings up, and it costs money to keep buildings up.”
Younger, though he did not know the exact surplus amount, said the Senate opted to sit on it rather than spend it.
“These are uncertain times we’re living in,” Younger said. “The money will be there next year, and we can appropriate it for projects next year. Some on the Senate side just thought to be more responsible about it.”
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said he pushed for higher education investments through the Capital Expenditure Fund, but his plan was rejected in budget negotiations.
“Amid economic uncertainty and federal funding freezes, it was important for the State to take a prudent approach in crafting the next fiscal year’s budget,” Hosemann said in a Thursday email to The Dispatch. “I advocated for focusing Capital Expenditure funds on state-owned assets, such as our universities and colleges. Unfortunately, my approach was not agreed upon by the House. We will continue to support investments in higher education, a key to our economic future.”
In its efforts to curb federal spending, the Trump Administration has frozen federal funding streams and threatens to drastically reduce others. The administration’s current federal budget proposal includes at least $880 billion in cuts, according to the Associated Press, some of which would trickle down to Mississippi.
District 43 Rep. Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, said the lack of funding for capital projects stemmed from a disagreement between the House and Senate.
“I think the distinct difference was that we felt like we had a budget surplus that would allow us to do (capital improvement projects) from the House position,” Roberson said. “I think the Senate position was that they wanted to be more conservative with that.”
Younger said long-term uncertainty over federal funding contributed to the Senate’s conservative stance on budgeting, especially for the Mississippi Department of Health. Lawmakers heavily debated approving the department’s budget after realizing it contained a provision that could impact $1.2 billion worth of federal Medicaid money for the state. He also pointed to the state’s ongoing efforts to phase out the income tax.
“… With all that, we just decided not to do any project money this year because we don’t know what we’re going to have to pay for next,” Younger said.
Roberson emphasized that limited time during the special session also played a role in the final budget outcome.
“Sometimes, you have to compromise as to how you want to do things just to get the budget out so that things don’t (go unfunded),” Roberson said. “… In January whenever we go back in (to session), we will fight for those projects that deserve to be funded.
“As we’re moving forward, I just pray and hope that we’re able to get a little bit more consensus on the House and Senate position on the budgetary side and be able to move forward in the future,” Roberson added.
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