Higher education cost gets higher
A 3.5 percent tuition increase for the 2012-2013 school year at the University of Indianapolis was announced through a campus wide email sent on Feb. 1.
Graphic by Laura Fellows
This academic school year also saw a 3.5 percent increase in tuition from the preceding year. This sets full-time undergraduate tuition at $23,590, an $800 increase from this year, and room and board with a 14-meal plan option at $8,570, a $300 increase.
The executive committee of the Board of Trustees made the decision to raise tuition.
“We work very hard to keep the price as low as we possibly can,” said University of Indianapolis President Beverley Pitts. “We don’t want to lose any students, because they can’t afford to be here financially.”
Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Mark Weigand said that as tuition rises, the university’s efforts are to continue to offer more institutional aid to offset the cost of higher education for UIndy students. He also said that UIndy has done a good job at keeping its tuition increases consistently low. He said he looked at both a five-year and 10-year span of tuition increases for Indiana’s private colleges, and that UIndy had one of the lowest increases overall.
The email sent to the campus community about the tuition increase included links to UIndy’s Financial Aid Office website and to the online FAFSA application. The email urged students to file the FAFSA by the March 10 deadline.
Pitts said that one of the things students always wonder about is what drives tuition increases.
She said that often times students think that what they see is what causes the increase. She used the Super Bowl activities as an example and explained that those were funded with money that the Super Bowl Committee paid to use the Athletics and Recreations Center.
Pitts said it costs around $200,000 more each year just to maintain licenses for the technology UIndy has.
The new dormitory also was discussed.
“The residence hall will bring in additional students, and those students will bring in additional revenue,” Weigand said.
According to Pitts, tuition is increased to maintain the university’s operating costs and provide quality education.
“It’s a good time for UIndy,” Pitts said. “We’re happy that we don’t have to have a larger increase to maintain the quality education the UIndy students deserve.”
