USI Board of Trustees approves budget and tuition/fee increase for academic year
 

The University of Southern Indiana Board of Trustees approved a $59.3 million annual operating budget and implemented a 9.8 percent annual tuition increase for the 2002-2003 academic year at the regular board meeting on Monday, July 1.

Much of the operating budget, which increased by 6.3 percent, will be funded through additional student tuition/fees. State support will increase less than one percent next year. The loss of state funding eliminated $800,000 from technology funds, $600,000 in repair and renovation, and another $2.5 million was deferred and may or may not be provided in the future. University officials told the trustees that it was necessary to increase fees to cover expected and unavoidable increases in areas such as property and liability insurance, health insurance, and water/sewer rates.

USI undergraduate students who are Indiana residents will pay $10.25 more per hour in student fees beginning in the fall semester. Indiana resident graduate students will pay $15 more per hour.

The new per-credit-hour fee will be $113 for in-state undergraduates and $166.25 for in-state graduate students.

USI President H. Ray Hoops said, "It is our intention to retain the position among public four-year institutions for having the lowest fees in the state. USI continues to be the most affordable of the state's baccalaureate institutions." The average tuition increase for Indiana's other public universities is 11.9 percent.

A new technology fee of $5 per credit hour will begin with the 2003 spring semester. It will generate about one-half of the lost state-funded technology appropriation. It is typical for universities to charge a technology fee, and this is the first time USI has initiated such a fee. The transportation and parking fee will increase $5. The increase supports the cost of the campus shuttle and additional parking lots on campus.

The newly approved budget supports several new faculty and staff positions related to enrollment growth and new degree programs. A modest amount of operating support is provided for the new Science and Education Center now under construction.

During the trustees' annual meeting, David Huber of Cannelton, Indiana, was named board chair. Huber is an attorney with the firm of Zoercher, Huber and Goffinet in Tell City. He follows James L. Will Sr. of Evansville who served as chair since 1999.

Other officers are G. Patrick Hoehn of Floyds Knobs, vice president for finance; Bruce H. Baker of Newburgh, vice president for long- range planning, and Louise S. Bruce of Tell City, secretary.

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