During its final meeting of the semester on Friday, May 15, Southeast's Board of Regents discussed tuition, course fees and housing for the fall semester.

The board voted to approve a nearly 2% increase in room and board fees, changes to some special course fees and raise tuition by $7.75 per credit hour.

Kathy Mangels, treasurer of the board of regents and vice president for finance and administration, said the increase in tuition will be a combination of the annual assessment of tuition costs compared to Missouri's consumer price index and the second phase of a two-year increase plan to fund facility maintenance and repair.

The board voted to approve changes to the curriculum, introducing a professional pilot degree and training program in partnership with the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. The new Bachelor of Science degree will be offered starting fall 2021.

Other changes to the curriculum include the addition of a graduate certificate in cloud computing, an undergraduate certificate in web development and new options for marketing majors focussed on fashion and management.

University President Carlos Vargas gave the board a timeline of the impact of COVID-19 and how Southeast has responded.

Vargas said university officials kept a close eye on the pandemic since the first cases were reported in the United States and responded appropriately, making many tough decisions.

“Sixteen hundred face-to-face classes adapted to remote delivery in just 2 weeks,” Vargas said. “The transition has not been perfect. I acknowledge this, and we are learning from the experience, but I am very proud of the way our faculty has responded to this challenge.”

The regents voted to approve a Resolution of Honor for former Cape Girardeau mayor and former President of the Board of Regents, Jay B. Knudtson. Knudtson will be recognized at a future meeting to be held when social distancing guidelines would allow his family to attend.

Graduating senior and President of Student Government Association Matt Rowling introduced the next president of the SGA Logan Phillips to the board.

Faculty Senate Chairman Nic Wilkens introduced the new chair of the Faculty Senate Diane Wood.

The next Board of Regents meeting will be held in June. The minutes and materials of the May 15 meeting can be found here.