Last modified: Friday, May 9, 2003
Questions and answers on tuition increase
How much are tuition and fees going up?
The Board of Trustees has approved a 4 percent increase in tuition for all IU students for the 2003-2004 academic year. Various fees that are assessed by the individual campuses have also been raised.
Overall, a returning in-state student on the IU Bloomington campus will pay 3.8 percent more in tuition and fees for the 2003-2004 academic year than in the 2002-2003 academic year; out-of-state IUB returning students will pay 3.9 percent more in tuition and fees. Returning in-state students on the IUPUI campus will pay 4.0 percent more; at IU East, 3.8 percent more; at IU Kokomo, 3.6 percent more; at IU Northwest, 3.7 percent more; at IU South Bend, 3.6 percent more; at IU Southeast, 3.6 percent more. The variations in the amount of increase on each IU campus reflect differences in changes in specific fees, largely the student activity fee, charged on each campus.
What does that add up to in dollars?
At IU Bloomington, returning Indiana students will pay $101.23 more per semester as a result of the new tuition and fee structure. Non-resident IUB returning students will pay $313.43 more per semester. Increases for returning in-state students at IUPUI and the regional campuses range from $69.75 to $94.44 per semester.
Won't new IU students also pay an additional fee in the fall?
Yes. Last summer, the Board of Trustees approved a $1,000 Commitment to Excellence fee ($500 per semester) to be assessed on new students at the IU Bloomington campus, $800 ($400 per semester) for new students at IUPUI and $500 ($250 per semester) for students at IU's regional campuses. The fee will be assessed for the first time in the fall of 2003. More information about the new-student fee and the programs it will support is available at https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/print/901.html
Why is IU raising tuition?
Rising costs in higher education are driven by many factors. IU is Indiana's fifth-largest employer. The university budget is directly impacted by the rising cost of health-care benefits that is affecting all businesses. The proposed budget framework foresees an 18 percent increase in health-care expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year. The cost of fire and casualty insurance for the university is rising 35 percent.
As one of the nation's leading research universities, IU must financially compete for outstanding faculty members with well-funded public and private institutions. If IU falls farther behind its peers in faculty pay, it runs the risk of losing some of its best classroom teachers and researchers.
Also, maintaining the cutting-edge technological environment that IU students have come to expect requires a continued commitment of resources.
Meanwhile, the state of Indiana is struggling with a difficult budgetary situation. While state legislators and the governor did their best to support higher education in the most recent budget process, they were able to restore only half ($7 million) of the base funding that had been previously cut. In fact, IU experienced state funding reductions and/or deferrals of nearly $110 million as a result of budget cuts in the last biennium. IU has been hit particularly hard by reductions in money in the repair and rehabilitation budget that the university needs to maintain its buildings and infrastructure.
To maintain the quality of the institution in the face of rising costs and the tight state budget, it is necessary to ask the students to pay higher tuition.
Will higher tuition be used to fund major salary increases for faculty and staff?
IU's budget for the 2003-2004 fiscal year foresees a 2 percent salary increase for faculty and staff with an additional 1 percent available for merit raises on the basis of achievement and retention to faculty.
