Mississippi’s higher education commissioner told the Greenwood Voters League Wednesday that he doesn’t yet know exactly how students will attend class in the fall.
Dr. Alfred Rankins Jr. said that, given the fluidity of the situation with the pandemic, the state Institutions of Higher Learning has not specified a plan for the next semester.
This year, the universities have used a combination of online and in-person classes. For a three-week stretch, all classes at Mississippi Valley State University were held virtually.
Rankins noted that the situation appears to be improving and that because of the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, enough students and faculty should be vaccinated by fall.
If there are no major setbacks, he said, matters should get back to where they were before the pandemic.
Rankins also spoke about gains from this year’s legislative session.
IHL will receive $48 million more for the upcoming fiscal year than it received for the current fiscal year. This amounts to a 4.3% increase, said Rankins, who served at MVSU in 2012-2013 as acting president. About $14.8 million of that money will go toward the general education budget, which is a pool of money that universities use to run campuses and pay salaries.
The Legislature also granted IHL more than $88 million for construction and other capital projects on the campuses.
“As an academic person, I would love to say that students choose universities because of great academic programs. Well, that’s part of it,” Rankins said.
“But students have great choices. ... This is a competitive world for students,” Rankins said. “What oftentimes makes a difference in whether one student chooses one university over another are the facilities and amenities.”
Rankins also mentioned Senate Bill 2313, otherwise known as the Mississippi Intercollegiate Athletics Compensation Rights Act, which goes into effect in July. The legislation allows college athletes in Mississippi to be compensated for their images and likenesses.
Rankins said this will enable Mississippi’s universities to compete with states with similar laws, such as California, Michigan and New Jersey, in recruiting student-athletes.
Rankins also spoke about House Bill 1179, which will likewise go into effect in July. The new statute establishes a loan repayment program for college graduates who commit to teaching in areas of the state with critical shortages, such as the Delta.
Students are eligible to receive up to $15,000 over three years to be paid against their college loans.
MVSU’s president, Dr. Jerryl Briggs, also addressed the league.
He described how MVSU has assisted with providing transportation to those throughout the community whoneed rides to COVID-19 vaccination sites.
He said university officials have been reaching out to students who have not returned to classes amid the pandemic and asked them what challenges they faced. Briggs said students told university officials that they wanted to be with their parents or had to work jobs.
In response, Briggs said the university is working on an aggressive enrollment plan.
According to figures released last year by IHL, MVSU had 5% fewer students enrolled in last year’s fall semester than in the fall semester of 2019.
There were 2,032 students enrolled in fall 2020 — 115 fewer than the fall 2019 count of 2,147.
Despite the enrollment fluctuations, Rankins said the university is on sound financial footing, though neither he nor Briggs provided any specific numbers.
David Jordan, president of the Voters League, said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson will be next week’s guest speaker.
Jordan said the Democratic congressman will speak about the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package President Joe Biden signed into law last month.
- Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
