Board approves hike

The IU board of trustees approved a new initiative Friday that would increase tuition by 4 percent for all IU students and would allocate the $1,000 fee to be paid yearly by all incoming freshmen beginning in the fall.\nThe increase will bring in-state tuition to $5,517 for returning students, up $202 per year. Freshmen will pay $6,517, including the extra $1000 fee.\nOut-of-state returning students will pay $16,552 annually, up $627, and out-of-state freshmen will pay $17,552, up 10.2 percent.\nThe extra $1,000 is part of the University's new "commitment to excellence" program. The funds will be allocated to programs in human biology, interdisciplinary science, the study of the human body, the expansion of research and teaching in international studies, optometry and environmental science. It will also be pooled into efforts to launch a "second era" for the School of Music. \nOfficials said they predict that faculty will increase 10 percent as a result of the "commitment to excellence" initiative.\n"I do believe this is an historic moment for this campus," Chancellor Sharon Brehm told the Associated Press. "We're talking about a decade in which, if we do it right, we can strengthen this campus in a way that I'd call transformative."\nWhile Chancellor Brehm remains optimistic, students and parents expressed some concerns.\nHerb Greenberg of Los Angeles, Calif., father of sophomore Danielle Greenberg, notes that the benefits of such a program are to be desired, but he questioned the cost.\n"It is wonderful to increase staff, but the extra $1,000 seems excessive," he said.\nDanielle said she hopes the money will be put to good use.\n"Classes are crowded, so it will be nice to increase the student-teacher relations," Danielle said. "But one can only pay so much."\nAssistant Instructor and third-year creative writing graduate student Doug Cox admitted that he felt torn between conflicting reactions. As an A.I., his tuition is waived by the University, but he said he never feels that tuition increases are good for students.\n"The University is just another business, trying to make more money any way that it can," he said. "It puts me in a weird position, working for 'the man.' "\nSophomore Jessica Monahan said she felt that the incoming freshmen are those who should be pitied. Under her bowling scholarship, she won't be affected very much by the tuition hike either, but she recalled the pains of paying for school as a freshman.\n"For incoming freshmen, it'll be hard," she said. "It was hard on me; I'm still paying off some of my loans."\nThe academic programs benefiting from "commitment to excellence" were the winners in the first round of a competitive process for awarding the new funds.\nThey will receive $11 million a year to pay faculty and staff and $34.4 million in one-time funding for facilities, labs and equipment.\nThe Associated Press contributed to tihs story.