Death to the crippling cap

Just like communism, a corvette auction or challenging Officer Friendly to a competitive game of "Guess-the-Fake," it seemed like a good idea at the time.\nBut the Indiana General Assembly thought otherwise of Senate Bill 262, which requested a "tuition cap" for state universities. \nState Senators Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, and Tim Skinner, D-Terre Haute, authored the bill with intent to relieve middle-income families of some of the financial strain of higher education. However, a lack of support convinced the senator to withdraw his bill at the last minute.\nWhile we respect their noble ambition, we believe his proposal might have done more harm than good.\n The bill would have required universities to announce by Dec. 1 of each year the tuition rate for the school's next freshman class. It would have limited the rate to a 4 percent increase annually in an attempt to take the financial strain of higher education off Indiana families.\n "For the last six years, I have had daughters in college -- and will for the next two years," Skinner said. "I will have accumulated almost $100,000 worth of debt from tuition. And that doesn't include the bill for $500 she gave me last week for textbooks." \nOf course, the tuition cap wouldn't include it either -- the bill provided no relief from the cost of books, housing or even the dreaded $1,000 "freshman fee."\nAnd what's to say IU couldn't circumvent the bill by continuing to tack on even more fees? In a time of scarce governmental funding, money for administrators' paychecks has to come from somewhere.\nHow about a $2,000 freshmen fee? Or an associate instructor fee? And when the University's athletics and extracurriculars begin to feel the belt tighten, will the trustees frontload freshmen tuition to compensate?\nState Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, is afraid so.\nOf course, since the tuition cap didn't apply to out-of-state students, the University could always count on them to foot the bill. But an administration so keen on diversity would certainly be loath to fence off IU from the rest of the country.\nWe're all in a tight spot. With less federal education funding, the state must cut back on IU's budget, which drives the cost of tuition up. But a tuition cap would only further strangle our beloved institution.\nThis bill clearly wasn't the answer Indiana is looking for.\nHowever, we're encouraged to hear Indiana is still looking. The bill can be revived any time in the next 10 months, and Simpson said IU's own Adam Herbert wants to sit down with Sen. Kenley to work out a real solution.\nWe admire the president's interest in affordable college education, and we hope his influence takes the state in the right direction.\nUntil then, rest in peace, Senate Bill 262.