Faculty and staff at Marshall University will receive a 4 percent pay raise next fiscal year following action by the school’s Board of Governors Thursday.

The BOG approved $3.9 million in raises as part of its vote on next budget year’s spending plan. The raises will be across-the-board, according to Marshall President Jerome Gilbert. Gilbert tells MetroNews he hopes some time in the future to be able to give merit raises as part of a reworked system.

“We are still looking at our merit system in the faculty ranks and also we’re redoing our non-classified staff pay schedule. We’ve just got that finished and we haven’t really felt comfortable enough to do merit raises yet,” Gilbert said.

The raises were made possible by two separate allocations from the state legislature that totaled a 3.1 percent increase pay increase. Gilbert said Marshall was able to find the remaining funds internally.

“We know there are some faculty that probably deserve more than four percent and I’m anxious to get to the point that we can award merit more directly. We also know there are some real equity issues with pay,” Gilbert said.

Marshall’s finances are under review. Gilbert said he wants take the money from unfilled positions and put it toward pay raises.

The board of governors approved a 5 percent pay raise for faculty and staff last year. Gilbert said nine percent over two years isn’t bad but it’s not enough.

“We know that we’ve got to be competitive to keep good people and to attract new people and we know we’re not as competitive as we need to be right now,” Gilbert said.

The new budget also includes a 3.5 percent tuition increase for students.

“We tried to keep that as low as possible,” Gilbert said. “We are aware we need to keep them low. We are not the highest but we know in the future we have to look at lowering that increase.”

He said a new textbook cost plan could save a student up to $250 a year which could offset the tuition increase.

Gilbert said he is thankful that after several years of budget cuts, Marshall has seen an increase in state appropriations. He said that points toward an improving economy.

“I am optimistic that West Virginia is on the rise. We certainly say that Huntington and Marshall are on the rise. I’m optimistic the state is starting to turn things around,” Gilbert said.

Marshall is still operating at a comparative deficit in state appropriations to where seven years ago. Gilbert said the difference is $9.4 million.