State to shift funding priorities

Recent changes in state funding for higher education could mean more money for major Indiana research institutions like IU.\nIn the past, competition for state funding favored community colleges like Ivy Tech State College, because they were they were growing, while major universities like IU and Purdue University maintained more stable in enrollment.\nHowever, Don Weaver, special assistant to the president for state relations, said this year the state legislature will factor an institution's amount of research into the formula for determining state funding.\n"This was mitigated because the state legislature has started proposing basing funds on how much research the campus does," Weaver said. "Purdue generates a lot of research dollars, just like IU and (IU-Purdue University- Indianapolis), it's important for our growth to do as much research as possible."\nWeaver said community colleges like Ivy Tech and Vincennes University received a significant portion of state funding because these institutions are growing.\n"A significant portion of state funding has been enrollment driven, so those campuses that are growing the most will receive a large portion of the funding," he said.\nState Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, said Ivy Tech and Vincennes are experiencing exponential growth because of the economy.\n"Economic downturn causes people to go back to school and improve their schools," Welch said. "For the average displaced worker, a community college is the place to go for that."\nThis increase in community college enrollment caused mature campuses like IUB and Purdue to receive funding cuts.\n"When there's plenty of money going around, everybody gets their share of funding," Weaver said. "When it's short, that hurts the campuses that aren't growing." \nHe said one reason major research universities lose funding in Indiana is due to IU's strategy of preventing duplication of programs on several campuses. Of the eight regional campuses, IU has one architecture program, one law program and one medical program.\n"They are very careful not to duplicate programs," Weaver said. "But the state is in danger of doing that if community college programs are growing."\nIU trustee Patrick Shoulders said he doesn't see these non-residential, two-year community colleges as a threat to IU.\n"We serve a different mission," Shoulders said.\nShoulders attributes the current allocation system to the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon's community college initiative, which was part of the education package he instituted during his first term.\n"(O'Bannon) wanted to make higher education more accessible to people in the state," Shoulders said. "People can begin their education there and then go to places like IU."\n-- Contact staff writer Alli Stolper at astolper@indiana.edu.