Forum seeks student input

Tuition will likely increase again for next fall, said IU trustees, and members of the board will hold an informational meeting with IU President Adam Herbert and Gov. Joe Kernan today to discuss the tuition-setting process with the public.\nThe meeting will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, but the public can participate via live stream from any of IU's eight campuses. IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis will oversee IUB's stream, held in Room 2140 at the School of Education.\nIU Trustee Jamie Belanger said current trends in state and federal funding prompted the board to hold the meeting, which will be the first of its kind. The meeting will give the trustees a chance to gather information and outside opinions before it decides on next year's tuition rate this April.\n"The least we can do as a board is make sure everyone understands the reasons behind tuition increases," Belanger said. "We really should be hearing everyone involved and everyone that's affected before making a decision."\nFred Eichhorn, president of the board of trustees, said the meeting will provide the public an opportunity to view the inner workings of IU's complicated budget.\n"The key word is transparency," Eichhorn said. "We're trying to let people know what our problems are in financing this huge institution. I hope [the public gets] a better understanding of the complexity of this University, and we get a better understanding of what problems there might be."\nThe 2003-2004 in-state tuition for new undergraduate students went up roughly 23 percent to $3,258.56 from last year's figure of $2,657.33. Current students saw a 4 percent increase.\nIU passed smaller percentage increases for new out-of-state undergrads, who paid a 10 percent 2003-2004 tuition hike from $7,962.63 to $8,776.06. A 4 percent increase for current out-of-state students matched that of their in-state counterparts.\n"We know that no one likes to see tuition increase and that the board of trustees and the administration are reluctant to increase tuition," said Eichhorn, "but at times, it's necessary. Affordability and accessibility are a couple things we think will be prominent [issues]."\nKirk White, director of Hoosiers for Higher Education, said he will attend the meeting so he and other HHE members can more effectively lobby public officials for higher education funding.\n"It's a great opportunity for the University to explain the complicated procedures that are used annually to determine the level of support that the University needs to maintain its excellence," White said. \nThough another tuition increase is likely inevitable, White said the board will make a wise decision.\n"It's easy for us to think that tuition increases are made without a whole lot of thought, and that's just not the case," he said. "All of our trustees, having been students once themselves, take the decision to raise tuition very seriously and emotionally, because they know what increases translate to."\nBroadcast of the meeting is also available at http://www.broadcast.iu.edu. \n-- Contact senior writer Mike McElroy at mmcelroy@indiana.edu.