IU administrators: no tuition raise despite cuts from state funds

IU administrators said tuition will not be raised this year or next school year after the state cuts about $150 million in funding from Indiana’s seven public universities.

But, administrators said they don’t know yet how much money IU will receive and what they will do to make up for the loss. Indiana’s Commission for Higher Education will work with University administrators to decide how the cuts will be allocated.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels gave the commission 30 days when he announced the cuts Dec. 4.

IU board of trustees President William Cast said the University has to look at its reserves and look at what cuts it can make without cutting into the heart of the University.

As funding from the state has decreased from about 80 percent to about 22 percent during the past 40 years, tuition has filled the gap, he said.

“The times we live in, more and more, the individual is expected to foot more of the bill if they can afford it,” Cast said.

IU has planned several scenarios about what to do with funding cuts, said IU Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Neil Theobald.

He said it’s impossible to know which of those scenarios will be used until the extent of the loss is known. He said the cuts will come from as far away from the classroom and the research laboratory as possible.

The $150 million cut is 6 percent of what the state was suppose to give its universities during this year and next. But the universities have already spent a quarter of that, so it’s more like a 10 percent cut of what’s left, and it’s “very significant,” Theobald said.

The University has slowed hiring and frozen salaries during the past year to deal with consequences of a troubled economy.

Tuition was raised this summer because IU received about the same amount of money from the government as it did during the past two years despite increases in operating costs.

In the past year, about 50 positions at IU have been eliminated through a University hiring slowdown, and 550 more students than last year are enrolled, Theobald said.

“There’s a tremendous gain in efficiency here at IU, and we need to continue that,” Theobald said.

Because funding for empty positions is cut in half – making them unfillable – staff members are now stretched too thin, said Peter Kaczmarczyk, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 4730.

Kaczmarczyk said he’s not worried about the uncertain funding situation because the money amount is relatively small compared to what the staff has had to endure.

But he said the staff members couldn’t continue to carry the burden, and he looks forward to speaking to the administration about the situation.

In a statement released Dec. 4, IU President Michael McRobbie said he hoped the funding decreases would be made fairly among the universities; however, it’s uncertain how much of a decrease IU will have to deal with.

He said he would like the Commission for Higher Education to take into account that IU and Purdue University have been pressured to reduce trustee-approved tuition hikes.

After state Sen. Luke Kenley, chairman of the state budget committee, threatened to block approval of building projects at the two universities, IU offered in-state students with a B average a $300 tuition credit.

Cast said it would be good if the commission could take into account graduation rates, because the commission has been trying to come up with incentives to graduate on time and to stay and work in Indiana.