Tuition cap has unlikely future

Facing opposition from state colleges and state legislators, a proposed bill that would impose a cap on public university tuition every two years is likely to fail again this year, the bill's author said.\nState Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said Senate bill 369 would require Indiana universities to give students and parents some notice through public hearings on tuition. It would also require tuition to be set for two-year periods, after the bi-yearly state budget is adopted, and set a maximum increase, which would consider income growth rate and cost of living increases plus 1 percent. \nIf universities want to exceed that increase, the bill says, they would have to petition the Indiana Commission for Higher Education -- a provision that has drawn ire from public universities that insist they, not the state government, should be setting what they feel is appropriate tuition. \nFor the 2004-05 academic year the IU board of trustees approved a 4 percent tuition increase -- following a request by former Gov. Joe Kernan for universities to hold tuition increases at a voluntary 4 percent.\nThe intention of the control bill is to be pro-student, not anti-university, Kenley said.\n"The reason I'm bringing the bill in Indiana is tuition increases in public schools over the past 10 years have been some of the highest in the nation, and that concerns me," he added.\nBut Kenley doesn't believe State Sen. Teresa Lubbers, the Republican chairwoman of the Senate education committee, would give the bill a hearing, and a similar bill died last year before reaching the Senate floor. \nAt this time, Lubbers has not scheduled a hearing on the bill -- much to the delight of IU officials who oppose the bill.\nIU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said President Adam Herbert and the University believe the board of trustees is the proper entity to set tuition and fees, and that they would oppose any legislation that might limit or remove that power from the trustees.\nJ.T. Forbes, IU's executive director of state relations, said former Gov. Joe Kernan's College Affordability Task Force, of which Kenley was a member, could not reach a consensus on the issue. Gov. Mitch Daniels has expressed his own skepticism about price control measures like these, Forbes added.\nDaniels' spokeswoman did not return a phone call last week to provide a statement on the governor's stance regarding Kenley's bill.\nForbes said the bill is silent on the state's responsibility for higher education funding, and could conceivably hurt public universities in Indiana.\n"Students should be concerned about anything that limits the universities' financial flexibility, especially during times when state funding is tight," Forbes said. "This measure is particularly problematic because it does not take state funding into account. If the state cuts funding, then IU has to either cut expenses or raise revenues to fill the gap." \nState Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said he thinks the bill could possibly hurt students when they graduate and start looking for a job.\n"If the General Assembly is going to insist on a tuition cap, then it must also fund higher education institutions at an adequate level," Pierce said. "While a tuition cap might sound good, it would likely result in a lower-quality education and could harm IU's reputation across the country."\nState Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, told the Indiana Daily Student Wednesday she was opposed to the bill because she doesn't believe the government should micromanage the University and how it's funded.\nTuition cap bills have encountered strong bipartisan support and also fierce bipartisan opposition.\nOhio Gov. Bob Taft and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, both Republicans, have had tuition cap legislation afoot in their respective states. Taft proposed a 6 percent annual tuition cap on Ohio's public universities in his 2005 State of the State address. \nEhrlich, however, vetoed a bill that would have reigned in public university tuition by raising the state's corporate income tax. The Democrat-controlled Maryland House of Delegates failed to override that veto last month, and has introduced new legislation without a tax increase to cap tuition at 4 percent. \nSimilar legislation is on the move by Republican state legislators in Wisconsin, where Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle has offered more tax deductions in lieu of imposing a tuition cap.\nForbes said there could be repercussions if the bill is passed, especially if it is approved while the state simultaneously requests a freeze for educational funding in the budget.\n"A key legislator said it best when asked about enacting a tuition cap this year," Forbes said. "He said, 'You can't cap universities on both ends.'"\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.