ISU officials summoned to Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS --President Daniel J. Bradley defended ISU's 3.5 percent tuition increase to state officials in a hearing at the Indiana Statehouse on Tuesday.

Indiana State Representative Jeff Espich of the State Budget Committee summoned officials from ISU and six other Indiana universities to defend their current tuition increases in a hearing with the committee and other officials from the Indiana Commission of Higher Education.

In May, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education suggested that ISU's tuition should not exceed an increase of 2.5 percent.

Indiana State Senator Luke Kenley, Chairman of the appropriations committee, said that with tuition rising over 1,000 percent, the state wants to make sure that universities aren't raising tuition in order to receive more appropriations from the state in the form of financial aid.

"We are reining that in to make sure that affordability and accessibility are a priority," he said.

Teresa Lubbers, commissioner of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, said that Indiana's future relies on higher education.

"Our primary focus is students who are staking their dreams on the accessibility and affordability of college," she said.

She said the rate of tuition increase has outpaced the average Hoosier income.

Bradley and Randy Minas, vice president of ISU's Board of Trustees, told the budget committee that tuition rates have a direct correlation to appropriation. Minas said the money that ISU has received from the state is reminiscent of the levels of appropriation in the mid 1990s.

"ISU is totally committed to provide affordable quality education to meet the needs of students," he said.

Bradley pointed to other states that have been stricter in setting firm tuition increase limits and called attention to the quality of education at those institutions. Bradley said that "there is a fair deal in both directions" between the state of Indiana and students of ISU and asked that state officials use caution when capping tuition increases.

"What needs to happen in the long term is an understanding between higher education and legislators that there is a correlation between tuition and appropriation," Bradley said.

He told the committee that ISU tried to live with the recommendations made by the commission but stated that mandates need to be made a lot sooner than a month before legislative action.

"Our ships cannot be turned on a dime," Bradley said. 

He said that finding out that state appropriations would be cut by $4 million and that there would a lower suggested rate of increased tuition one month before the end of the fiscal year is more than ISU could absorb.

Prior to the hearing, Bradley said that his goal was to provide the information the state needs and, in the meeting, emphasized that he was not there to complain.

After hearing Bradley and Minas's defense, Kenley emphasized the importance of the Commission for Higher Education's recommendation for tuition rates and said concern about changing the game on universities is "falling on deaf ears."

Bradley said ISU's commitment to keeping tuition within the commission's recommendations is a strongly held goal but if the state continues to cut funding to universities there will be consequences.

"Indiana has to decide what kind of universities they want," Bradley said. "I am not saying we couldn't run with another cut but the product won't be the same."

Espich said that he sees the Commission for Higher Education as a neutral body trying to provide a middle ground that focuses on the immediacy of keeping higher education affordable rather than the universities' focus on producing the best quality of education.

"Difficult times for universities is a tough time for Hoosiers," he said.