Published: July 10, 2009 10:16 pm         

ISU board OKs tuition, fees increase

TERRE HAUTE — The Indiana State University board of trustees voted Friday to approve a 3.9 percent increase in tuition and mandatory student fees. The nine-person board also voted to approve a 0.7 percent increase in the university’s overall operating budget.

No one likes a price increase, “but this is one we believe is necessitated,” said Michael Scott Jr., president of the ISU Student Government Association, during the approximately 90-minute board meeting.

The board voted in favor of the tuition increase without a dissenting vote. In fact, none of the several agenda items voted on during Friday afternoon’s meeting received a dissenting vote from any board member.

“We’ve got to do this [tuition increase] to maintain the quality of our program,” said out-going board president Michael Alley. The goal of the board was to approve a budget that kept tuition affordable but also maintained educational quality, Alley said.

“We remain sensitive” to affordability, Alley said. The newly approved budget provides affordability and a good value for students, he said. “I’m very proud of that.”

The budget approved by the board also envisions a 3 percent salary and wage increase for ISU employees, board members noted. None of the funds for that pay increase will come from the higher tuition, a university official told the board.

The board of trustees voted on several other measures during Friday afternoon’s meeting in the State Room at Tirey Hall on the ISU campus. Among other things, the board voted to approve a new agreement with the city of Terre Haute for bus service. City buses will now provide service for ISU students living at the married student housing complex on South Third Street, Scott said.

“For that population, that is really important,” Scott said of the expanded bus service. The new agreement also calls for additional service between the ISU campus and Honey Creek Mall and the east and south Walmart stores, Scott said.

Also during the 90-minute meeting, the board voted to approve a new 15-year contract with Barnes and Noble to operate the university’s book store facility, which is set to be constructed at Fifth and Cherry streets downtown.

At the close of its meeting, the board voted to make board member Ron Carpenter its new president. Mike Alley was named vice president. Norm Lowery was elected as the board’s new secretary and Randy Minas was elected assistant secretary.

Prior to the board meeting on Friday, ISU officials conducted a public hearing on the proposed 3.9 percent tuition and mandatory student fee increase.

ISU officials made a presentation at the hearing to illustrate the rate increase for each of the next two academic years, and showed that the cost of attending ISU will remain lower than Purdue, Ball State and Indiana universities. ISU’s tuition was $7,148 for the 2008-09 academic year. It will increase by $278 next year, and by $288 in 2010-11 to reach $7,714.

Only one student accepted the invitation to speak during the hearing, and her comments concerned issues other than tuition or fees.

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education had recommended that ISU’s tuition and fees increase by no more than 3.5 percent for the next two years.



Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com. Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com.