IU issues in-state grant details

IN-STATE UNDERGRADUATES must get a 3.0 GPA with at least 12 credit hours both this and next semester, and be enrolled for at least 12 credit hours next fall.
IN-STATE SENIORS must earn a 3.0 GPA with at least 12 credit hours this semester and be enrolled in enough credit hours next semester to graduate.
HOW The $300 will be credited to students’ bursar accounts if they qualify. Applications are not necessary.

The requirements for grants that would pay $300 to in-state IU students with a B or better grade-point average have been finalized.

The details come four weeks after IU President Michael McRobbie originally announced the plan.

Eligibility would require at least 12 credit hours with a GPA of at least 3.0 for the fall and spring semesters of this year, said Neil Theobald, IU vice president and chief financial officer, in a press release.

Students also must be enrolled in 12 or more credit hours for the 2010 fall semester.
Current seniors only need 12 credits with a 3.0 GPA this semester and must enroll in enough hours next semester to graduate.

At IU Bloomington and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, qualifying students will be credited $300. At IU’s five regional campuses, students will receive a $200 credit.

The move is a response to  State Sen. Luke Kenley’s, R-Noblesville decision to block new IU and Purdue University building projects from the budget committee agenda in August because he was unhappy with the amount of tuition increases at the universities.

In July, the IU board of trustees voted to increase in-state tuition by 4.6 percent for this school year.

Kenley, chairman of the state budget committee, said he would not approve new projects until the universities formed a plan to relieve costs for Hoosier students and families.

McRobbie said the funding for the grants is expected to cost IU about $3 million – money that he said will come from existing savings and philanthropic support.

Dan Shane, a graduate student in economics, said the plan seems “much ado about nothing.”

“If they want to lower tuition, do it,” he said, adding that for some students a grade in a particular class could be the difference between receiving the money or not.
“I imagine students will be a little more heated in their interactions with teachers if it comes down to that B is going to cost them $300,” Shane said.