IU trustees approve 2009-10 tuition increase

The IU board of trustees approved the budget for the 2009-10 academic year that will raise tuition for in-state, out-of-state and graduate students.

In response to not receiving an increase from state funding and trying to balance the federal stimulus, the University is tightening their belts for students and faculty including implementing a salary freeze.

“The world, the nation and Indiana University are facing economic premises we haven’t felt since the Great Depression,” said IU President Michael McRobbie on Thursday at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis. “The cuts to IU’s budget have been softened by the federal stimulus budget, but it’s important to remember that this is temporary.”

For the 2009-10 academic year, in-state tuition will increase 4.6 percent and out-of-state tuition by 5.6 percent. Graduate tuition rates will vary from campus to campus.  IU law students will see an in-state tuition increase of 24.5 and 8.1 percent in the next two years, respectively, and the School of Medicine’s tuition will increase 2.5 and 4 percent during the next two years, respectively.

In addition to faculty salary increases, the University will implement a 50 percent reduction in travel funds and restrictions on non-academic hiring.

But the University plans to hire an additional 129 faculty members, 61 for IU-Bloomington and the other 68 distributed among IU’s six other campuses.

“Law and business school faculty are very expensive to keep,” said Neil Theobald, vice president and chief financial officer during Thursday’s board meeting. “In order to be competitive and offer this education, we have to be able to provide this faculty.”

In addition, McRobbie announced that Thomas Morrison, IU’s current associate vice president for public affairs and state relations, will be filling the newly created position of vice president for capital projects and facilities.

Responsibility for the construction, renovation and repair of buildings will be on Morrison’s shoulders. He will also oversee the acquisition of real estate, facilities programming and maintenance and sustainability initiatives.

“Even though we’re in a downturn in the economy, we still have a number of capital projects that will move the University forward,” Morrison said. “The president has outlined a plan that allows us to move forward aggressively.”