INDIANAPOLIS -- Officials at the state's largest four-yearpublic universities say a new fee imposed on freshman and newstudents will not lessen the need for annual tuition increases.
The $1,000 so-called freshman fees, which new students then payevery year until graduation, will bring in more than $115 millionannually to Indiana, Purdue, Ball State and Indiana Stateuniversities by 2008, when all students at the colleges will paythem.
The money equals the amount raised in three or four typicaltuition increases, but university officials say annual tuitionincreases are likely to continue -- even though the fees will raisetotal revenue five to 10 percent.
University leaders defend the fees, saying they are necessary toimprove the quality of education and provide better services, morefinancial aid and new degree programs. The money, they say, willattract other research dollars and top faculty.
''At a time when a lot of universities are struggling to keepup, we're making progress,'' said Purdue President Martin Jischke,whose university was the first to impose the fee, in the fall of2002. ''So it makes this fee...all the more important.''
But soaring college costs have some parents, lawmakers andhigher education experts deeply concerned.
''I think their plans are the methodology of justifying theever-increasing prices they want to charge,'' said Sen. LukeKenley, R-Noblesville, chairman of the Senate Education andWorkforce Development Committee.
Some fear the new fees will drive up student indebtedness ordiscourage students from enrolling in college. Only 19.4 percent ofIndiana residents 25 and older have college degrees, according tothe 2000 census. That number puts the state 43rd in the nation.
At Indiana University in Bloomington, freshman Mike McElroywonders why the fee was not spread out to all students the firstyear.
''It's a considerable hardship,'' McElroy told The IndianapolisStar for a story published Sunday. He realizes the fees might be away to maintain IU's quality but says, ''Things look pretty goodhere now. Whatever they come up with, it better be good.''
Initially, money raised from the fee will pay for hiring andequipping 135 faculty and developing 10 new degrees. About 20 newfaculty will start in July.
IU expects this investment to generate more than $20 millionannually in new research grants and attract talented faculty andgraduate students.
''I think it's a really bold idea,'' said law ProfessorFrederick Cate, who chaired IU's strategic planning committee.Putting new money in key areas will pay off five or 10 years fromnow, he predicted.
That does not ease the burden on students who are paying forthat future now. The average student debt at IU Bloomington was$17,100 last year.
Ball State University Provost Beverley Pitts sees the freshmanfee as a way to enhance university programs -- not as a substitutefor annual tuition increases at Ball State.
''It's not going to replace what we need just to stay afloat,''she said.
ISU doesn't have a long-range plan to spend the funds, butofficials say they will use the money to focus on financial aid,technology, faculty raises and student support programs.
Stan Jones, the state's commissioner of higher education, andothers question whether the fees are really needed. And they wonderhow families can continue to pay a higher proportion of collegecosts when state and federal financial aid is not keeping pace.
Kenley said even though the General Assembly added $53 millionover two years to state financial aid, lawmakers still had to putcaps on the amount available to students because the state couldnot keep pace with tuition hikes.
He said he intends to introduce legislation that would create aninflation cap for tuition, guaranteeing rates would not rise muchmore than two percent during a student's four-year education.
Amid such concerns, universities need to show tangible resultsof the new fees, Jones said.
''Used correctly, this could substantially improve quality, andwe would hope and expect to see that.''
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