INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Purdue University students will begin paying either $400
or $1,000 more in tuition and fees next school year, depending on whether
they are in-state or out-of-state.
The university
system’s Board of Trustees approved a 3.5 percent tuition hike Friday along
with a $91 fee to cover the renovations to a student service center.
State Rep. Jeff
Espich, R-Uniondale, said he was still reviewing the tuition hike and
planned to invite university officials statewide to a public hearing this
summer to explain their increases.
The Indiana
Commission for Higher Education signed off on Purdue’s tuition hikes Friday.
The commission recommended earlier this month that state universities limit
tuition hikes to 3.5 percent.
“The board
members were convinced that this tuition and fee proposal was as low as we
could go and maintain the quality of a Purdue degree,” Keith Krach, chairman
of Purdue’s Board of Trustees, said in a statement.
Indiana
University is expected to vote on tuition hikes Tuesday. Ivy Tech Community
College is freezing tuition for Indiana National Guard members, but will
hold a public hearing on tuition hikes for its other students.
Lawmakers,
including Espich, attempted to curb tuition hikes during the state
legislative session that ended last month, but settled instead on the
commission establishing recommended limits.
While most other
government agencies and employees have suffered through budget cuts during
the recession, the state’s university system has been largely held harmless
while still being allowed to raise tuition, Espich said.
“Everybody else
is still holding their breath,” he said.
Under the
board-approved plan, tuition for in-state and out-of-state students
attending Purdue will jump 3.5 percent in the 2011-2012 school year and
again the next school year. Students also will pay a new “fitness and
wellness fee” of $91 in the ‘11-’12 school year and $182 the next year to
pay for renovations to Purdue’s Student Fitness and Wellness Center.
The trustees
also approved a new, systemwide, $1.16 billion operating budget that
includes a 1.5 percent merit-based salary increase for workers at its main
campus.