No members of the public attended a public hearing about tuition and fee increases.
Ball State University held the legally-mandated hearing Monday afternoon to explain and answer questions about the proposed 4.39 percent increase in tuition and fees for the upcoming school year.
President Jo Ann Gora emphasized Ball State's fiscal restraint as she introduced Vice President for Business Affairs Randy Howard to the audience of about a dozen administrators and reporters.
"I think [the presentation] will demonstrate that the university has tried to be very restrained and very prudent in its recommendation to the Board of Trustees," Gora said.
Howard finished his presentation and offered to answer questions. After no one asked any, Gora looked around and asked, "Are there any members of the public actually here? There are members of the press here. I don't believe there is actually any member of the public here."
Howard said during the presentation that the university's goal is to keep tuition and fees as low as possible while maintaining a quality education.
The state did not increase Ball State's operating appropriation, Howard said. But expenses are still going up, he said.
Howard said Ball State's spending has decreased during the last 10 years when adjusted using the Higher Education Price Index, a measure of inflation for colleges.
He said the "Supplies and Other Expenses" part of the operating budget, which includes operating expenses outside of financial aid and personnel costs, has not risen in seven years.
The university has been committed to finding cost savings for a long time, Howard said, not just because of the recent fiscal pressure.
Tuition at Ball State was the lowest of any school in the Mid-American Conference last year and will stay that way next year unless one of those schools cuts its tuition, Howard said.
The proposal will be presented to the Board of Trustees at the end of the week.
The proposed tuition increase for the 2009-10 academic year is 3.26 percent for residents and 5.26 percent for out-of-state students. The increase for the 2010-11 academic year is 3.87 percent for residents and 5.88 percent for residents.
The technology fee is proposed to increase by $12 per academic year for 2009-10, which is $1 more than originally proposed. The fee will increase another $14 in 2009-10.
A fee for the new Student Recreation and Wellness Facility is also proposed. It will be phased in at $90 for the 2009-10 school year and $180 for 2010-11.
The Board of Trustees has final authority about the university's budget and has not rejected a tuition and fees increase in at least ten years.
The Board's meeting is open to the public and will be held at 4 p.m. Friday in the Park Hall Multipurpose room.
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