This story has been updated since its original version to reflect that tuition restructuring isn't related to budget cuts. Also, the proposed increases in tuition for certain majors and courses are based on rates from 2010-2011.
University officials are looking to minimize variations in the tuition and fee structure, a measure they say isn't directly related to the budget cuts.
Proposals offered during a recent Board of Trustees meeting would benefit students taking between 12 and 18 credit hours, summer and online classes. But it would cost more for students taking more or less hours and those who have earned more than 144 credit hours but still don't have a degree.
But it might not be as simple as the task force of academic and business affairs faculty first thought.
"It's what makes the implementation so challenging," Howard said of the five-year landscape architecture program. "Even the things you think are pretty straightforward, there's always an exception."
Howard's presentation was based on tuition rates from 2010-2011, and not the upcoming year. Under the proposal, College of Architecture and Planning and nursing students would see an additional $100 fee each semester, and students would be charged an extra $10 per music course, $10 per business course and $30 for lab courses.
President Jo Ann Gora and Randy Howard, treasurer and vice president for Business Affairs, mentioned the university's new push for more distance education and how to accommodate it.
"They want to take both distance ed and courses in the classroom," Howard said. "That is becoming more the norm than the exception, and they don't want a financial penalty to do that."
Part of the proposal Howard presented was influenced by an email to Gora from a former Board of Trustees student member.
"What's really the trigger of the whole thing is students want to combine online and on-campus courses, and we knew that had become an increasing trend," Gora said. "The challenge for us is we didn't really have mechanisms that defined you as online or on campus."
The new fee structure defines an on-campus student as someone taking at least one course in the classroom, which allows for more distance and hybrid learning without the higher costs.
A major change includes moving some of the costs from tuition to mandatory fees — service, technology, health and recreation fees — which Howard said protect in-state undergraduate students.
"During this phase we really wanted to minimize the impact on our main population and one the state is very sensitive to, and that's full-time undergraduate Hoosiers, Indiana residents," Howard said.
On Friday, the Commission for Higher Education issued recommendations for a 2.5 to 3.5 percent increase in tuition, and Bernie Hannon, associate vice president of business affairs, said a week before that the university would probably follow its recommendation closely.
"We don't want to get out in front of the commission," Hannon said. "It's a matter of public policy. It's their charge to do that."
Gora said Howard's recommendations would influence planning for next year's tuition and fees, which will be presented to the board at its next meeting. May 26 is the soonest it could meet.
"No action is necessary," she said. "But unless we hear from you, this will be what guides the tuition and fee proposal that we put forward."
Goals for tuition restructuring:
1. Simplify the fee schedule — make the costs the same for 12-18 hours, but charge per credit hour for more or less hours.
2. Facilitate demand for hybrid schedule without financial penalties — follow on-campus fee structure for students taking even one on-campus class and some online courses.
3. Shorten time-to-degree completion — provide more affordable classes in the summer, and penalize students who have 144 credit hours with no degree.
4. Reduce the cost for full-time, online degree seekers
5. Eliminate inequities in tuition charges associated with brackets.
6. Align costs and revenues for more expensive courses and programs — charge more for CAP and nursing students, and charge course fees for business, music and lab courses.
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