Also passed in the meeting:
• Faculty and staff will receive a two percent raise for academic year 2015-16.
• An additional $314,340 will be used for specific salary increases.
• The student employee wage pool was increased by two percent, allowing for more student employees.
• The general fund was set at $345,189,000.
Tuition will increase 1.65 percent for the 2015-16 academic year, while student fees will be frozen and financial aid will go up, offsetting the increase.
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to raise tuition to $3,771 per semester next year; however, there will also be a 3.61 percent increase in financial aid for students. This is the university’s seventh consecutive year increasing financial aid at a higher rate than tuition.
The total cost to attend next year for an on-campus undergraduate taking 12 to 18 credit hours including all mandatory fees will be $9,498, according to the Board of Trustees report.
The increase in tuition will amount to $77 more per semester for a full-time Indiana undergraduate taking 12 to 18 credit hours, said vice president for business affairs and treasurer Bernie Hannon.
"This board did anything we could do to have a zero increase in tuition," Hannon said. "1.65 percent, it's remarkable."
Hannon said the university decided to up tuition but freeze the student fees every student pays because it allows for a more transparent look at what exactly a student will pay each year and where their money is going.
The increase puts Ball State at the second lowest tuition rate in the Mid-American Conference.
University president Paul W. Ferguson said the university will use the funds gained from the increase to support the Centennial Commitment.
"We are moving forward with The Centennial Commitment, positioning the university as the model of the most student-centered and community-engaged 21st century research universities," Ferguson said in a press release.
For the 2016-17 academic year, the university will increase tuition by 1.64 percent. For a full-time Indiana undergraduate taking 12 to 18 credit hours, the cost will increase another $78 per semester.
Both Purdue and IU have frozen tuition for the 2015-16 academic year.
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