College tuitions have risen nearly 30 percent in the last three years in Missouri and some officials are blaming a lack of state funding to higher education for the increase. The State Auditor is also attacking the latest plan to put more dollars into colleges’ hands. At a news conference blasting lawmakers for not putting in enough money into higher education – resulting in what State Auditor Claire McCaskill describes as unconscionably high tuitions – McCaskill expresses concern over the latest plan to sell Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority assets to fund some projects at colleges and universities in the state. McCaskill says Governor Matt Blunt and legislative leaders, some of whom have not yet been re-elected for this next legisaltive session, are overstepping their bounds and committing the state to a plan that could have negative effects years down the road.