Gov't tackles college tuition

Last week Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., proposed a bill that would punish universities for excessive tuition increases.\nThe bill limits a university from raising its tuition more than two times the inflation rate or federal-aid money would be restricted. \nWhile the bill still has a long way to go before it becomes a law, the positives and negatives of the proposal have already been assessed by many IU officials.\n"The parts providing for more transparency on tuitions are probably positive," said IU Vice President for Governmental Affairs John Walda. "The proposal for the demonstration project is a possible way to explore methods of cost control."\nWalda said the problems arise when comparing tuition-increase needs to inflation. If the bill's limit is exceeded, the school would be forced to create a "management plan." If two more years pass and the school remains out of compliance with its management plan, it would be forced to release accounting of all costs and expenditures and would be placed on "affordability alert status." \nThe next step would be the removal of federal funding.\nBut some congressmen say this bill could hurt more than help. \n"The cost controls instituted by the federal government could equate to the removal of government programs to assist lower income and minority students," said a spokesman for Congressman Baron Hill, D-Ind., "That is not the answer."\nState funding for universities has steadily dropped in recent years, and Walda said he could envision days of the state depleting funding all together. He said this would lead to tuition increases being over the inflation rate for years at a time. \nCiting hard economic times and rising costs, the IU board of trustees has increased tuition by nine percent in 2002 and another four percent for the current school year. \nBut IU has been on the lower end of these hikes as many schools have seen increases in the double digits, some even close to 20 percent.\n"(Low tuition cost) is always a goal," said board of trustees President Fred Eichhorn. "But it is also always a goal to maintain and enhance the quality of the University."\nSeveral areas of IU would be affected if the bill were to pass. \nWalda said the removal of non-academic costs from the budget would likely occur, along with out-sourcing certain services and cutting benefits for employees and students. He said the University already has started out-sourcing campus services, like the Residential Programs and Services for dining.\nThe bill still has to go through the committee process and then get prepared for the floor. From there, it will wait until leadership brings it up. \nWhile many agree on the positives of more transparency in the cost of education, some fear that with the growing independence of universities from state funding, placing federal limitations would be too much to ask.\n "It would be a giant leap to transfer this to the federal government and could be a very dangerous concept," Walda said.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.