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IU TRUSTEES APPROVE 1998-99 HOUSING RATES AND NEW 'ALL-POINTS' MEAL PLAN
NOTE: A complete listing of IU Bloomington and IUPUI housing rates is available upon request. Call 812-855-3911.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Housing rates for the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses of Indiana University were approved May 8 by the IU trustees. Also approved were two new Bloomington campus meal plans that were developed with the help of students.
Students moving into university housing for the first time will be charged an average of 2.5 percent more than was charged entering students last fall. Current IU Bloomington students who choose to continue to live in on-campus housing will not experience the housing rate increase.
IU Bloomington will have two all-point meal contracts to choose from that give them more options of where to eat on campus and food choices. Depending on which plan they select, students will have the equivalent of either $2,400 or $2,700 to spend on meals at traditional dining halls, food courts or the Indiana Memorial Union.
Under the plan, one point equals $1 or 100 cents. Those who select the 2,700-point plan will pay $2,600 and receive 100 bonus points at no charge.
The points may be spent on meals in the dining halls at Collins Living Learning Center and Forest, McNutt, Read and Forest quadrangles, or at specialty cafes such as the International Marketplace at Eigenmann Hall or at food courts at Foster and Wright quadrangles. They also can be used at the McDonald's restaurant in Read Hall.
The new plans replace a system that combined different numbers of meals in residence halls and points that could be spent elsewhere on campus.
A study of campus food service operations and frank input from student government leaders led to the development of the new all-points plans.
"The clear message of the survey data from students was that the former system was not what students preferred," said Bruce Jacobs, assistant vice chancellor of residential programs and services at IU Bloomington. "The new free market plans give students the choices they want, and our food operations will continue to improve as they compete against each other for our residents' business."
The 5.6 percent increase in meal costs reflects the request from students for more choices. The present and past presidents of the Residence Halls Association were on hand at today's trustee meeting to lend their support to the increase.
Even with the increase for entering students, room and board rates at IU Bloomington remain among the lowest of the Big Ten universities' residential campuses.
The weighted average housing rate for new residents at IU Bloomington for the academic year (fall and spring semesters combined) will be $2,602. The figure is for housing alone and is based on a double occupancy room. Students who lived in campus housing for the first time last year will pay an average of $2,539 this year; returnees who have lived in campus housing for two previous years will pay an average of $2,359; and those who have lived in campus housing for three previous years will pay an average of $2,290.
Trustees also approved increases for housing units at the Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus.
Rates for returning students at Ball Residence will remain the same as those paid in 1997-98.
A 4 percent increase was approved for those living in the Ball Residence for the first time, and for all residents of the International House and Warthin Apartments.
A 3.5 percent increase was approved for all residents of Graduate Townhomes.
(George Vlahakis, Office of Communications and Marketing, 812-855-0846 or 812-855-3911, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)