The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning board unanimously voted Thursday to approve a request from the University of Southern Mississippi for a reduction of non-resident student tuition of 40 percent. Before the change can take effect, USM must get final approval from the board at its October meeting. Douglas H. Vinzant (Vice President for Finance and Administration at USM) stated that “Recruiting in-state Mississippi students is a top priority.” “But we must recruit students from outside the state to increase revenue and improve programs for all our college students,” said Douglas H. Vinzant, vice president for finance and administration at USM. The current nonresident tuition at USM stands at $16,094. The school asks that the non-resident tuition be reduced to $9,854 by fiscal year 2018. The University of Mississippi charges $20,574 for out-of-state tuition, and Mississippi State University charges $20,032 for out-of-state tuition. In fall 2015, USM enrolled 14,551 undergraduate students. The Institutions of Higher Learning reported that USM’s fall 2016 enrollment showed no growth. The enrollment at Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi State University was 10.7% higher than the 0.1% increase at Jackson State University. In recent years, the board has granted several tuition waivers to non-residents. The waiver, which took effect in fall 2013, was approved by Delta State University. Mississippi Valley State University received a waiver in summer 2013. Alcorn State University waived tuition last fall. It established single flat tuition rates for all students in-state or out-of-state. In fiscal 2015, MUW reduced non-resident tuition by 0.7%. However, MUW’s non-resident tuition increased by 3.2 percent in the fall. Many of the state’s public universities raised non-resident tuition between 2000 and 2016. For military service, several universities have granted tuition waivers to students from outside the state. USM started offering tuition waivers to students who are not residents of certain geographic markets in August 2015. Vinzant says that USM has always recruited from the same region. “We have looked at Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee as well as the Florida panhandle. He said that Texas has more graduates per year than Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana combined. He said that this is a huge opportunity. Tom Duff, a board member, questioned the benefits of the new approach to recruiting students from in-state universities. Vinzant explained that tuition paid out of state covers more than what it costs to provide the extra education and services they represent. He said that if the university doesn’t try this new approach to recruitment, there are only two options: “have an injection of state appropriations” or to drastically increase in-state tuition. Vinzant believes it will take several years to assess the effectiveness of the new approach.