Viewpoint

Brand

Providing quality

At IU, the value continues

Myles Brand
President, Indiana University

As you probably know by now, Indiana University's Trustees have approved a 4 percent tuition increase for the coming academic year. When mandatory student fees are added in, that amounts to a total effective increase of 3.5 percent for the Bloomington campus and increases ranging from 3.7 to 4.9 percent for our regional campuses, with the variables determined by campus-specific fees.

This marks the second consecutive year in which our Trustees held the total increase to less than 4 percent, a figure that, when it was first approved last year, was the lowest hike in 21 years.

We have been able to avoid large tuition increases in the last two years because our administration, faculty and staff have made every effort to become more efficient, effective and accountable. Thanks to your efforts, we are engaging in the best practices that are proving to be a great value for Indiana's taxpayers.

But as our job becomes increasingly more difficult, it is incumbent upon the state to better fund higher education. The facts are clear. IU ranks tenth in the Big Ten in state appropriations. Figures issued by the National Center for Educational Statistics show that for the 1995-96 academic year (the most recent year for which such figures are available), IUB received $5,235 in unrestricted state revenues per full-time equivalent (FTE) student. Purdue ranks eighth, with an allocation of $6,215 per FTE student. And Minnesota ranks first with $10,821 per student.

Clearly, we cannot continue to maintain quality without significant increases in either our state appropriations or our tuition.

We cannot continue to make important improvements in our science infrastructure or to give our students the expertise they need to succeed in a high-tech world if we do not have the wherewithal to provide the very best facilities, laboratories and scientific tools. Nor can we continue to offer the special services that some under-prepared students need to stay and succeed at IU.

These facts become even more disturbing when you consider that Indiana's general and property tax replacement fund had a record, positive balance of $1.67 billion at the end of the 1996 fiscal year. A 1996 report by the National Governors' Association indicates that most states have a budget surplus of 5.7 percent of their state expenditures. Last year, Indiana's surplus was approximately 20 percent. According to the Governors' Association Report, only Alaska recorded a larger surplus.

In an era of relative prosperity, it makes sense to put your money in investments that pay off over the long term. For our state, which ranks 47th in the nation in the percentage of adults with a degree from a four year college, what could be a better long-term investment than education?

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What's on your mind? E-mail President Brand at pres@indiana.edu.