Waging war on tuition hikes

If there's one war everyone on campus seems to support, it's the war on tuition hikes.\nAt the Sample Gates Friday, hundreds of students protested the new $1,000 freshman fee and potential hikes next year. In two hours, more than 200 students signed a petition criticizing recent hikes and calling on the state to provide more funding.\nUniversity officials continue to lobby the state legislature to restore last year's funding cuts and to reverse the trend of declining public support for higher education.\nAnd in the recent IU Student Association election, each ticket put tuition near the top of its priorities list.\nLately, lawmakers have also been getting into the tuition game.\nWeary of price hikes, some have proposed state and federal laws that would limit tuition increases.\nWhile many students have welcomed the proposals, college administrators are concerned the laws could infringe on the authority of trustees and hurt education quality in the long run.\nAt the state level, legislators are considering a cap on tuition in response to what they see as excessive fee hikes last year, including $1,000 freshman fees at IU, Purdue and Ball State.\nAt the federal level, U.S. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon has proposed legislation that would require an explanation from colleges that raise tuition more than twice the rate of inflation, according to The Chronicle for Higher Education. If a school exceeds the limits, it could become ineligible for federal student-aid programs.\nSophomore Brian Myers, who participated in the Sample Gates protest, wants IU to "give a good reason" every time it raises tuition.\nThe proposed legislation would provide that accountability, Myers said.\nBut IU spokesman Bill Stephan said that, if introduced, the legislation would be an unnecessary level of regulation.\n"These issues are more appropriately dealt with at the state level," Stephan said.\nAs far as talk of a state cap on tuition hikes, the proposal is probably meant mostly to send a message, said Chancellor Emeritus Ken Gros Louis, who has seen similar bills come up in the state legislature over the past 30 years.\nWhile the proposals might look good to constituents, in practice they probably would overstep the legislature's bounds, he said.\nStill, administrators are taking the proposals as more than a message, reemphasizing University efforts to save money and the importance of higher education to the state, Stephan said.\nThose efforts could pay off in a tuition increase next year well under the rumored 20 percent range.\nIf current Indiana budget proposals are passed, IU's tuition increase could be held to 5 percent or less. That's because the governor's proposal and a House budget proposal call for restoration of IU's base budget that was cut last year, when tuition rose 9 percent.\nThere's still a lot of work to be done, Stephan said, as the budget now heads to the state Senate.\nBut for now, it seems we're winning the war on tuition hikes.