EAST LANSING — The Michigan State University Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting this week to fix what amounted to a roughly $4.2 million error in the university’s housing and dining rate increase passed on April 11.
The April 11 resolution stated the cost of housing and dining for the 2025-26 school year would rise 2.9%, from $12,564 to $12,698. However, that dollar amount change is only about 1%. A 2.9% increase would hike costs to $12,979, which was the board’s intention, despite the errant math in the resolution.
The State Journal raised the question of the discrepancy after the board voted on April 11, and later that afternoon, university officials confirmed the trustees had voted on the dollar amount.
The $281 difference might not seem like a dramatic difference, however, the roughly 15,500 potential students living in the dorms who would be impacted by the change brings MSU’s potential loss to just over $4.2 million if the board didn’t hold a new vote.
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The special meeting will be held April 25, university spokesperson Amber McCann told the State Journal in an email. The meeting will be solely to revote on a corrected resolution, she said.
The April 11 vote was 5-3, with Trustees Mike Balow, R-Plymouth, Dennis Denno, D-East Lansing, and Rema Vassar, D-Detroit, voting no.
Balow and Denno said they were concerned with money students paid for housing and dining going to $1.7 million for seat replacements and accessibility updates to the Breslin Student Events Center. An MSU spokeswoman and board Chair Kelly Tebay, D-Ann Arbor, initially pushed back on that claim, saying the Breslin renovations were not funded through the Residential and Hospitality Services budget, but later clarified they in fact were, in part.
Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@lsj.com. Follow her on X @sarahmatwood.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU to vote again on housing, dining costs after $4.2M clerical error
