Indiana State University decides to add $1,000 to new student fees

TERRE HAUTE -- Indiana State University is joining other state colleges in charging a $1,000 fee to new students.\nIndiana State's trustees voted unanimously Friday to institute the new fee beginning with the fall semester, along with a 5 percent tuition increase for continuing students.\nIU, Purdue University and Ball State University all instituted similar $1,000 fees last year.\nIndiana State officials said the tuition increases were needed to make up an expected $581,000 loss the university expects in state funding, even though the new state budget gives higher education increases of 5.3 percent and 3.6 percent in the next two years.\nISU President Lloyd Benjamin said the school has fallen behind others, particularly in faculty attraction and retention, because of its reluctance to increase tuition.\n"We're being outpaced in retention by other institutions," Benjamin told trustees. "The core of offering outstanding programs is your teaching core."\nSeveral ISU trustees voiced concerns about the increases, including the impact of the fee hike on a student body of about 11,000 that tends to include more first-generation and lower-income students than other universities.\n"It's a tough call for me," said trustee Jerry Dooley, who is the chief executive of Terre Haute Regional Hospital. "I think we need (the increase). We need the money, that's for sure."\nIndiana State's 2002-03 tuition rates were $4,116 for in-state students and $10,276 for those from outside the state. Its tuition increase for next school year is similar to those approved this month at the state's larger universities.\nIU's in-state tuition is increasing by 3.8 percent, Purdue's by 5 percent, and Ball State's by 4.9 percent.