MSU administrators retreated to Northern Michigan on Wednesday, escaping their regular routines and discussing issues concerning the upcoming school years.

The MSU Board of Trustees met with President M. Peter McPherson, Provost Lou Anna Simon and other officials at a brainstorming meeting at Crystal Mountain Resorts in Thompsonville.

The board discussed the condition of campus facilities and certain athletic issues, but the main topic of discussion was raising tuition in 2003-04.

“As a trustee, I want to hear about options other than raising tuition,” Trustee Colleen McNamara said in a meeting Thursday. “I don’t want to vote for tuition above inflation, so I’m telling the administration to find another way.”

The board voted to increase tuition by 8.5 percent for the 2002-03 school year in May.

McNamara is concerned state appropriations may not meet the needs of the budget again next year.

“We are going to have a shock,” she said.

But Board of Trustees Chairman Don Nugent said it’s still too early to make an assumption about the amount of money the university will receive from the state for the 2003-04 school year.

But across the board each trustee said he or she was committed to keeping tuition as low as they could.

“We have to push and push and push because, even if it’s a half-percent, it still makes a difference,” Trustee Randall Pittman said. “It’s going to be difficult this year and therefore, we can’t be afraid to ask the tough questions.”

The issue of cutting academic programs also was touched upon several times.  Simon said that while it’s hard to cut any program, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to eliminate smaller ones.

“Some of the small programs are no longer small,” she said.

The religious studies department was mentioned hypothetically as one the administration may need to take a closer look at in the future if they need to cut programs.

The department was rumored to be changed to a after a professor was reassigned and the a new dean was hired.

But even cutting certain majors might not help, Simon said.

“Everything we do isn’t going to make money,” she said. “We’re not in the business of making money, we’re in the business of spending money.”

Despite the tuition concerns, Trustee Dee Cook said the university should be proud of the way it kept tuition down for years before it jumped 8.9 percent in 2001.

“I don’t think our efforts have received the awards and recognition they’ve deserved,” she said.

McPherson said the university will still focus on its top priority - and it’s not money.

“We have to deliver as much as we possibly can because there’s another group we have a responsibility to, and that’s parents and students,” McPherson said.