A proposed 4.39 percent increase in tuition and fees for Ball State University may seem like a lot, but it will not be enough to keep up with increases in the university's expenses.
Vice President for Business Affairs Randy Howard said expenditures for health care, utilities and student wages are expected to increase by about $3.5 million next year, while the tuition increase is only expected to bring in an additional $3.1 million.
University officials will discuss proposed tuition and fee increases for the next two academic years at a public hearing today. The legally-mandated hearing will take place at 1 p.m. in the Park Hall Multipurpose Room. Vice President for Business Affairs Randy Howard said he will present reasons for the increases at the hearing and then take questions and comments from those who attend.
Since the hearing is not a meeting of the Board of Trustees, Howard did not know if any Board members would attend. He said he anticipates the president and most of the university's vice presidents attending.
The hearing precedes a Friday meeting of the Board of Trustees where the board is expected to vote on tuition and fee increases and the university budget.
"I can't speculate as to what the board might or might not do," Howard said, "Nothing has been approved, nothing is final, until the Board of Trustees approves it.
However, the Board of Trustees has not rejected tuition and fees increases for at least the last ten years, according to minutes from Board of Trustees meetings.
Tuition for Indiana residents will increase by 3.26 percent to $7,228 this fall and 3.87 percent to $7,508 for the 2010-11 academic year, according to the notice. Tuition for out-of-state residents will increase 5.26 percent to $19,794 this fall and 5.88 percent to $20,958 next year. If the increase is approved, tuition for 2009-10 will be more than double the tuition for 1999-00.
The university will also propose a new fee for the Student Recreation and Wellness Facility. The fee will be $90 for the 2009-10 year when the center will be partially opened and increase to $180 for the 2010-2011 year when the center is fully open.
The proposed technology fee will increase $11 to $353 for 2009-10 and $14 to $367 for 2010-11.
In 2007 the Indiana General Assembly told the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to set targets for tuition and fee increases of state universities. In its first year of setting the non-binding targets, the commission recommended that Ball State keep it's increase in tuition and fees for Indiana Residents at or below four percent for both of the next two years.
Ball State's proposed increases of 4.39 percent and 4.9 percent miss this target.
Howard said spending will continue to be constrained and all vice presidents were told to find budget cuts in the areas that they oversee.
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