Set tuition, more funding on IU's agenda

In a Friday teleconference with IU's regional campuses, a group of IU administrators discussed a variety of upcoming legislation, including tuition rates, federal funding and human cloning. \nOne preliminary bill discussed would require the University to set and guarantee tuition prices for a four-year term, allowing students to accurately determine the cost of their education in their first semester. Some mandatory fees, such as technology and course-related costs, would be included in this rate.\nWhile this might sound helpful to parents and students, Larry MacIntyre, director of media relations for IU, said it would be difficult to ensure tuition rates if the government could not guarantee funding. \n"Our trustees have always been very concerned about keeping IU affordable. But right now, we do have some concerns about the four-year tuition plan," MacIntyre said. "Without knowing the level of state support that we're going to have over the next four years, it's almost impossible to determine a tuition level we can guarantee."\nBut MacIntyre said he is hopeful a compromise will be reached. \n"The legislatures are always willing to listen to our concerns," he said. \nFunding, on both the state and federal level, ranked as the top priority at the meeting.\n"Right now, it looks like we're not going to get much more from the state than we did last year," MacIntyre said. \nFederal funding, however, might be a different story.\nTom Healy, IU vice president for government relations, spent two days in Washington, D.C., to discuss financial support with congressional staff. The list of funding priorities for the upcoming year, which included the IU campus bus service, computer-fraud prevention and neutron radiography at the IU Cyclotron Facility, totaled $19.3 million. \n"As you can see, this is a very aggressive proposal," Healy said. \nAlthough IU received a little under $4 million in federal funding last year, Healy is optimistic about the request. \n"I think we'll get more this year," he said. "The projects have a lot of merit, and we've tried to tie them into areas where funding will be available." \nHealy will accompany IU President Adam Herbert to Washington, D.C. in the next four to six weeks to discuss funding with congressional staff. \nOn the state level, the trustees discussed proposed Senate bill 0268, authored by Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, which would make human cloning a felony. \nThe bill, still in early drafts, currently states that it "prohibits the state, a state educational institution or a political subdivision of the state from using resources to knowingly participate in human cloning activities."\nMacIntyre said the bill will not hinder the University's research. \n"That bill is being looked at very closely by the IU School of Medicine, and Dr. (Craig) Brater, dean of school of medicine, has suggested that with certain changes, we'd be able to support the bill," MacIntyre said. \nAdditional bills discussed included an initiative to make 70 courses transferable between Ivy Tech and Indiana and Purdue universities. Currently there are about 40 courses that directly transfer from IU to Ivy Tech. \n"They want to make it possible for people to spend up to their first two years there and then transfer to an IU campus," MacIntyre said. "There's been a legislative push for sometime, and it's pretty clear that the legislature will not allow us to delay action on that."\nWhile the University is working hard to procure funding and shape legislation, Healy said it is too early to tell what effect the proposed bills will have on the next school year. \n"If this is the Superbowl, we're still in the first quarter," he said. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Hannah Lodge at hjlodge@indiana.edu.