INDIANAPOLIS -- The leaders of Indiana's four-year public universities are struggling to hold the line on rising tuition amid mounting pressure to keep costs down.
Five of Indiana's seven state-funded colleges have indicated that they will keep their fall tuition increases at 4 percent or less for in-state, undergraduate students.
The plans by Indiana, Purdue, Indiana State, Ball State and Ivy Tech State College are in line with Gov. Joe Kernan's request this month to limit increases to 4 percent.
Joni Finney, vice president of the California-based National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, warns that rising tuition nationwide has made college unaffordable for some.
''We can't keep turning to tuition and fees as a solution, without jeopardizing students' ability to enroll in higher education,'' she said.
A survey of several states, including Florida, Washington, Virginia and California, found that at least 250,000 prospective students were shut out of college because of rising tuition or cutbacks in admissions and course offerings.
Many other students graduate with prohibitively high debt loads.
So far, only the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, which has the lowest tuition among Indiana's four-year public universities, has said it will raise tuition and fees more than 4 percent.
College President H. Ray Hoops said USI's annual $3,885 tuition will go up by about $200 -- about a 5 percent increase. He pointed out that USI did not impose a $1,000 freshman fee and that its tuition will remain the lowest of the four-year institutions.
''If anyone objects to this, I'm going to be flummoxed,'' he said.
Indiana University President Adam Herbert said the decision to curb tuition increases indicates that these are difficult times. He said he intends to recommend a 4 percent increase for in-state undergraduates this fall.
''We'll have to do more with less,'' he said.
Many Indiana college students last year had to deal with new $1,000 fees. Three colleges imposed the freshman fee for new students, following Purdue's lead in 2002-03.
As a result, IU-Bloomington's tuition rose 22.4 percent, Indiana State's, 28.6 percent, and Ball State's, 26.1 percent.
IU Student Association President Casey Cox said the fees should enable IU to keep its tuition increase down this year.
He wants IU officials to allow an increase no greater than the 3.8 percent that upperclassmen saw last year.
''There should be no reason to raise it higher than last year,'' he said.
The freshman fee contributed to a 16 percent tuition increase at Indiana's four-year public institutions this year, compared with 14 percent nationally.
Indiana colleges received a 1.9 percent increase in operating funds last year and 3.3 percent for 2004-05 following modest cuts the previous two years.
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