News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham called the Governor’s proposals for Tennessee Higher Education, “Historic.”
In his state of the state address Monday night, Governor Bill Lee proposed $1.1 billion for capital improvements. The Governor also proposed a four percent salary pool increase for higher education employees. The plan also includes $90 million to fund a tuition formula based on student success not enrollment.
Oldham said Tech would get about a $4 million of that money, which could prevent a tuition increase.
“We haven’t had much time to adjust to what exactly that means for us, but we want to keep tuition low, and so we’ll certainly follow his wishes and try to keep that to a zero percent tuition increase,” Oldham said.
Oldham said that extra funding for employees will allow the university to better attract workers while also keeping retention high.
“It’s another great opportunity for Tennessee Tech,” Oldham said. “We want to make sure that all of our employees faculty and staff are compensated appropriately. We have a tremendous faculty, staff that support the efforts here at Tech.”
The budget proposal now heads to Nashville for the General Assembly to consider.
“There’s a few months to go in the process before all of that is finalized. We’ll wait and see how that goes,” Oldham said. “Tennessee Higher Education also weighs in also on tuition increases, and so they’ll have an opportunity to review what the legislature does in the end.”
