Less than a day after reports of possible tuition increases werereleased, gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels said he wanteduniversity administrators to justify how they spend students'money.
That way, he said, they can control the state's increasingcollege costs.
Daniels, who visited Ball State Monday, said that, if elected,he will push university trustees to use more objective measures --from the number of patents to testing -- to gauge a university'ssuccess.
"It (education) might have top priority, but it should not beimmune from basic questions," he said. "I think ... schools have... got to accept the responsibility of giving economic return(along with academics)."
Daniels, a Republican, is challenging other Republicans and Gov.Joe Kernan, a Democrat, for the top seat in Indiana. The winnerwill inherit a state that currently wields a deficit of more than$800 million and an uncertain future.
And the winner will inherit the state's universities and theirtuition increases, including a 123 percent increase at Ball Statebetween in the past 10 years. Ball State, with the exception of twoPurdue majors, led all other higher-education institutions in anincrease of first-year student fees during that time.
Daniels said a tuition cap might temporarily stagnate tuition,but a "clumsy" cap doesn't focus on lower-income students anddoesn't address the long-term problem, he said.
To do that, he said, he wants to meet with university presidentsabout three times a year, and at those meetings, he wants them toexplain how many patents their universities have acquired thatyear. Daniels said patents measure universities' technologicalfeatures.
Liberal-arts based universities might have to undergo testing orreport on how many graduates have found jobs, Daniels said.
"With all affections to all people involved in education ... wehave only recently began to insist on hard measurements," he said."You can never stop the search for improvement."
Vice President for Business Affairs Tom Kinghorn said hewelcomes outside reviews, even though they already exist. BallState is accredited every 10 years, and state legislators evaluateevery university in Indiana every other year.
Kinghorn said Ball State's tuition has increased 123 percentbecause its base was smaller than other institutions.
Also, during the past 10 years, the gap between IndianaUniversity's fees and Ball State's fees has increased.
"Just looking at the percentage increase doesn't reflect thewhole answer to the question," Kinghorn said.
Seven years ago, Joe Losco, a political science professor andmember of the American Association of University Professors, askedthe state's Commission for Higher Education to review Ball State'sspending, he said, but the commission never agreed.
Losco said Daniels' plan to measure patents won't work at BallState because the university does not focus on technology research.However, looking at employment figures might be worth looking into,he said, but it wouldn't be the only factor to consider.
"Of course, the university turns out more than people who getjobs," he said.
Losco also said he needs more information about Daniels' ideasto test universities, but according to Losco, professors are bestsuited to evaluate students performances -- not governmentbureaucrats.
"We don't want to go the route of K-12, where the majority ofthe schools teach to the test."
Daniels is not the first candidate to question universities'spending. During his 2002 campaign, Rep. Tiny Adams, D-Muncie,chastised the trustees for the $1,000 fee increase and focusing somuch on buildings. At that time, he said the state would have totake measures to "get their (universities') attention" if theycontinued to spend money on buildings.
In 2003, at the end of its regular session, the General Assemblycreated a commission to look for waste in state spending.
The commission, however, will not have enough time to thoroughlyreview higher-education spending before its report is due, BrianBosma, the House Republican leader, said.
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