Politicians debate ways to avoid possible tuition hike

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana universities suggested this week that significant tuition increases might be needed if they do not get more state funding. Some Republicans offered their own suggestion Thursday: Maybe it is time for lawmakers to cap tuition.\nA tuition cap could prove necessary because universities have not considered Indiana's financial plight and repeatedly turn to tuition to bolster what they consider to be inadequate state funding, some top Republicans said.\n"I think this is wrong. I think it's dead wrong," said Sen. Larry Borst, R-Greenwood, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.\n"I think the universities ought to get in with the program. The state just does not have the money, and for them to go about their business as normal and increase their programs and charge their students more, I think they're ignoring reality," Borst said.\nHigher Education Commissioner Stan Jones said his first priority would be to win more state funding so tuition increases are unnecessary.\nThe commission recommended the state restore money that Gov. Frank O'Bannon cut last year in an attempt to reduce the budget deficit, which is now estimated at $850 million.\nThe commission also recommended an increase in funding to pay for rising operating costs and spiking enrollment, but that amount was far less than what individual universities requested.\nJones called the commission's request "reasonable" because it did not include an inflationary increase.\nBut he also said universities must show restraint in raising tuition, given the state's economic struggle, and called a tuition cap "appropriate" if they fail to do so.