The Costs Keep Adding Up

Are our state universities financing inefficiencies on the backs of students? Recently Purdue University announced a 5% increase in its tuition rate in addition to a new annual per-student $500 surcharge that must be paid on top of tuition and room and board fees.  These increases are, according to a trustee, necessary to maintain Purdue’s status as an excellent school.  Purdue is not the only state funded university looking to raise tuition rates.  Indiana University, Ivy Tech, Ball State, Indiana State University, Vincennes University and Southern Indiana University are all proposing or adopting tuition increases in the 4%-5% range for the upcoming academic year.

 

The rise in tuition rates at Indiana’s state funded public universities is not without precedent.  According to Andrea Neal, a scholar with the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, the historical trend in Indiana is for college tuition rates to double every 10 years.*  This figure does not include increases in room and board fees that also come on a frequent basis.  In 2006 Indiana earned an “F” from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education in terms of college affordability.  Hoosier students and their families bear a heavy financial burden when they pursue a college education.  Those who chose to finance their degree through a private loan frequently find themselves paying much more for their degree once interest on the loan is factored in and paid back. 

 

But the cost to students is more than just a financial one, as young people trying to start life often find the cloud of college debt hanging over them and their finances to be a hindrance to personal and professional development.  If we are going to make sure that Indiana is ready for the 21st Century economy, we must reform our college education system to make it more affordable and more accountable.  The rising costs hurt many students, and all too often have the disappointing effect of discouraging many well-qualified high-school students and adults from pursuing a college degree.

 

There are ways to make college education more affordable. Let me suggest three ways to achieve this goal.  First, we can start the reform process by requiring every college faculty member to personally teach at least two subjects per semester. Many professors teach no classes at all, but are paid to do research.  Since up to 75% of a college or university’s budget relates to personnel expenses, maximizing our faculty resources will help us control costs.  If a faculty member is unable to proficiently educate students, or fails to fully perform teaching duties, their compensation will be adjusted downward in proportion to the handicaps faced by students who were unable to maximize their class time.

 

To help control long-term cost, the General Assembly should form a study committee to look into the two highest costing budget items for our public universities: faculty and staff compensation and capital expansion and renovation projects.  Reforms in these areas, including stricter accountability measures between faculty and school for compensation, and between schools and the state and students for capital expansion projects, will allow us to make college more affordable in Indiana.

 

Secondly, our state’s public high-schools should be offering classes to students that will transfer over to college credits once the student enrolls in a state college.  Because many of the things a student learns in their first two years of college have a very similar relationship to what they learned in high-school, there is no reason why bright students should be denied the opportunity to get a jump start on college while saving money. 

 

Third, if we began to require schools to help students maximize their tuition and time by giving them better guidance on what type of classes they will need to take to complete the degree that they want, we would see a decrease in the number of graduates who take 5 years to complete a 4 year degree.  Schools that organize class schedules inefficiently, and provide little support to students as to what their major requires, should face penalties for actions that result in students spending more of their own money and time on a degree that should have taken them less time and cost them less money.

 

We will not suddenly reshape Indiana’s college education system overnight.  But we can begin the process of controlling costs and increasing accessibility by expanding accountability and opportunity.  Indiana must have an edge to compete today, and we cannot afford to settle for an “F” grade in our college accessibility rankings.  Our students deserve better, and our future success demands more than what we are doing now.