Last modified: Friday, May 13, 2011
IU president responds to the Commission for Higher Education's vote on tuition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie issued a statement in response to today's (May 13) Commission for Higher Education vote on tuition.
Today the Commission voted to establish target tuition increase levels for each of the public colleges and universities. Those targets suggested increases of 2.5 percent for IUPUI and the IU regional campuses and 3.5 percent for IU Bloomington.
"I am certain that our Trustees, who have the responsibility for establishing tuition rates at IU, will take the recommendations of the Commission seriously and factor it into their consideration of tuition rates at IU," said McRobbie in a statement. "However, one serious issue that is not addressed by those recommendations is the need for repair and rehabilitation of the physical plant and infrastructure on our campuses. This has been either unfunded or minimally funded by the state for over a decade and the costs for such maintenance and repairs only increases as it is delayed. In fact, deferred maintenance across the IU system of campuses has grown to at least $600 million. It would be imprudent for us to fail to maintain the buildings for which we are responsible, and a temporary fee, based on the specific needs for each campus, may be necessary and prudent, in addition to the normal tuition rates described by the Commission."
McRobbie also expressed concern over the lower target numbers for Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the regional campuses.
"We must remember that IUPUI is a core campus for IU and has experienced significant growth in recent years in both the number of students and the research done on that campus," McRobbie said. "Regional campuses also have experienced significant growth and these factors must also be weighed. In setting tuition rates, our Trustees will be considering all of these important needs for the university while balancing the equally important issue of affordability."
