IU expected to unveil tuition hike soon

BLOOMINGTON (MCT) - With a state budget in place and funding no longer a mystery, Indiana University administrators are expected to unveil their proposed tuition rate increases for this fall and next.

Indiana's colleges and universities have had to put off setting fall tuition rates until state appropriations were passed. State lawmakers in general kept higher education funding at current levels.

IU President Michael McRobbie is expected to make tuition rates public early next week, possibly Monday, said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre.

MacIntyre would not provide a range of possible percent increases for tuition.

There must be a 10-day public comment period between the proposal announcement and a vote by the IU Board of Trustees.

Officials have said the trustees will hold a special meeting this month to vote on tuition and salary. The meeting date had not been set Thursday.

State law requires tuition rates to be set for two years.

Purdue University officials on Thursday announced their proposed tuition and fees. The proposal calls for a $388 increase, or 5 percent, for resident students and a $1,394 increase, or 6 percent, for nonresident students each of the next two academic years at the West Lafayette campus.

Purdue administrators will hold a public hearing July 13.

Total state funding for IU's eight campuses' operating expenses was cut 4.5 percent this fiscal year and another 1.5 percent in fiscal year 2011. However, lawmakers agreed to replace the cuts with a one-time allocation of federal stimulus dollars, in essence creating a flatlined budget.

MacIntyre said the university was treated as well as it could be, considering the state's financial straits.

The biennial state budget includes $10 million per year for the Indiana Innovation Alliance, and capital funding for six building projects, including two on the Bloomington campus: $35.7 million for the Cyber Infrastructure Building Phase II and $10 million for life sciences lab renovations.

The budget also appropriates $31.5 million for repair and rehabilitation to existing buildings on all IU campuses.

Last year, about 23 percent, or $600 million, of IU's total operating budget of $2.7 billion came from state funding.

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education recommended tuition and fee rate increases of no higher than 5 percent for the state's seven public college and university systems.

The commission recommends that none of the increases for the next two years exceed 5 percent for IU, Purdue and University of Southern Indiana, 4 percent for Ball State and Ivy Tech, and 3.5 percent for Indiana State and Vincennes University.