Room, board to increase 5.7 percent in 2009-10

The cost of living at IU is going up.

Rates for dorms on the Bloomington campus will rise 5.7 percent, from $7,138 to $7,546, for an air-conditioned double room, according to a press release. The IU board of trustees approved the change for the 2009-10 school year on Dec. 12.

“We can’t operate residence halls in the red,” said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre.
MacIntyre said the increases weren’t because of the ailing economy, but based on the expenses of operating the residence halls.

The increase is part of the yearly rise in the price of goods and other costs, said Pat Connor, executive director of Residential Programs and Services. He said one-third of the budget of RPS is salaries and benefits. He also said RPS always spends money to improve and update the residence halls.

He said another big reason costs are going up is because RPS is now expected to pay its own utilities and was not before. The cost of the utilities was estimated at $7 million, Connor said, so they’ve been trying to make it up over the previous three years.

Connor said the increase in room and board was less than last year’s.

Still, Connor said living in IU’s residence halls is a good value, less expensive than Purdue, Ball State and six other Big Ten universities.

This year’s rate was set months earlier than usual. Connor said he and Neil Theobald, vice president and chief financial officer, decided to modify when they set the rates so they could set all the campuses’ rates at once.

He said it was also because there are fewer trustee meetings per semester than in the past. He said it would give students residence hall rates earlier so they can plan and make better decisions about where they should live.

The early date also has the potential to cause some problems.

He said RPS looked at industry benefit rates to try to predict the costs but is still cautious about how some rates, such as health care benefits, could rise in the near future.

Students interviewed had mixed opinions about the value and price of residence hall life.

“Is it too expensive?” said sophomore Leah Rosenthal. “Absolutely. But’s it’s worth it, at least for a year.”

Rosenthal said even though living at the dorm was expensive, the experience was worth it, though she’s living off campus next year.

“It’s just cheaper to live off campus,” said sophomore Andrew Voorhees.

Voorhees said he’s going to get an apartment off campus, and he added it was mainly the meal plan prices that elevated the costs.

“I can go to the store and get a lot more for a lot cheaper than buying a meal plan,” he said.