Tuition rates remain undecided

The Indiana General Assembly’s indecisiveness to create a state budget has caused IU’s tuition rates to remain a mystery.

After a revenue forecast Wednesday, Indiana will have $1 billion less in its budget, meaning budget cuts will occur.

Gov. Mitch Daniels must bring the Indiana General Assembly together for a session no later than June 30.

The set tuition rates will come at the end of June, IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said.
“Lawmakers are going to tighten strings even more,” MacIntyre said.

Daniels will unveil his recommended budget Tuesday.

“Not knowing the state budget affects tuition rates,” MacIntyre said. “We do not know how much money we need to operate facilities.”

IU runs on state and federal money, but most of the operating budget comes from tuition, MacIntyre said.

MacIntyre said he understands that IU families and students are experiencing frustration of the unknown tuition rates.

“Families are concerned, and we are not able to tell them anything,” MacIntyre said. “That is the frustration.”

Every school and department is affected by this at IU, McIntyre said.

Many departments, such as the Office of the Bursar, experience the inquiries of many IU families but are unable to provide them with any certain information.

“The Office of the Bursar is receiving a large volume of phone calls and e-mails asking for the rates and/or when we will know the rates,” said Kim Kercheval, executive associate bursar. “This is hard for our service staff as we want to assist families with their inquiries, but we do not have information to provide.”

The financial aid office said it has not experienced much of a difference in its conversations.

“Our conversations with students haven’t really changed,” said Roy Durnal, senior associate director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance. “Students are still investigating all avenues of financial aid that could be used to pay for all educational costs they may have for 2009-2010.”

Automatic scholarships were available for incoming freshmen for fall 2009, and the office of scholarships has committed to giving out automatic scholarships to the incoming freshmen of fall 2010, said Sarah Booher, director of scholarships.

The rates for the automatic scholarships are re-assessed every year, and the amount for the scholarship will be revealed Monday on the office’s Web site.

Money for automatic scholarships comes from the IU Foundation, financial aid and state money, MacIntyre said.

The operating budget for the 2008-09 IU school year was $1.225 billion, and $228 million came from the state budget, MacIntyre said.

Altogether, IU campuses received about $500 million from the state budget, MacIntyre said.

According to the 2007-09 Operating Budget, with the cost of the 2008-09 school year, resident students have experienced a 6 percent increase in tuition rates while nonresident students have experienced an 11 percent increase in tuition rates.

“President McRobbie is well-aware of the trouble of making ends meet in this global economic climate,” MacIntyre said. “Tuition increases will be moderate.”