Students enrolled in fall courses who also will be registered for the Spring 2008 semester will receive about $26 plus $2.25 per credit hour applied toward their spring bill, Trustee Melanie Foster said.

“This is based on the Legislature doing what we expect it to do,” she said.

Foster said she didn’t know if the university had a “mechanism” for students who are graduating in December or won’t be enrolled in spring classes to receive the refund. It’s too late, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said, to refund the money this semester.

“We can’t make any adjustments for fall semester given the lateness of the action because bills are paid and financial aid is dispersed,” Simon said. “We’re hopeful that the 1 percent will hold through the rest of the month and there are no further reductions in higher education budgets for the rest of the year.”

Steve Webster, vice president for governmental affairs, said the refund would be made official depending on final state and university budget figures expected in the next few weeks.

The university’s funding this fall came at a 1.8 percent decrease from the previous year, amounting to $286.9 million. The refund is a consequence of a 1 percent increase off that deficit.

“It’s not much that we’re talking about,” Trustee George Perles said. “But it didn’t go up. That’s the good news. People are going to realize that higher education is our only way. Without it, we’re going to go downhill.”

Currently, the state funds about 40 percent of tuition expenses, while students are responsible for the other 60 percent.

“Twenty years ago, the university received 70 percent from the state,” Foster said.