IU Board of Trustees approves 5.5 percent tuition increase

The IU Board of Trustees has approved a 5.5 percent hike in tuition and fees for IU Bloomington — an increase two percent higher than what was recommended by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

The approval came soon after a 40-minute hearing Tuesday where the public was invited to voice their concerns.

IU President Michael McRobbie announced May 20 that resident students would pay the Commission’s recommendation of a 3.5 percent increase, but that he also recommended an additional fee be included.

This fee would help cover the cost of repair and maintenance work for IU’s 900 buildings and associated infrastructure across all IU campuses.

Altogether, it is a backlog of more than $600 million in repair and maintenance projects, according to a press release.

“Many buildings are very old, some over 100 years old, and we must make significant investments in repair and maintenance projects to ensure their continued use,” McRobbie stated.

IUSA President Justin Kingsolver spoke at the hearing, telling the board that he had several problems with the proposal.

“First among them,” Kingsolver said, “there was very little student input into some of the cost cutting measures we could take.”

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