2008 Woodie Awards
Tuition hike proposed
ISU is seeking 7 percent boost from students
Casey Santee Courtesy of the Idaho State Journal
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News
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If approved by the State Board of Education on April 7, full-time students will pay $4,708 per year to attend ISU. Last year, tuition and fees rose by 5 percent.
Including this year's request, tuition and fees will have increased more than $1,000 during a five-year period, a 27 percent increase.
"We're sensitive to the fact that our students are under an awful lot of economic pressure," said Jim Fletcher, ISU vice president for finance and administration. "We know they are taking financial aid and trying to stretch a dollar as far as they can."
He said the major reasons for ISU's request are inflation, including the rising cost of energy, as well as state funding-shortfalls.
Fletcher added that ISU requested between $400,000 and $500,000 from the Legislature for maintenance and upkeep at the Rendezvous Center, which opened last year. Instead, lawmakers provided about $100,000. In addition, the state wouldn't fund $800,000 for ISU's new Banner information management system, which will consolidate existing ISU databases and track spending. The $15 million system will be phased in beginning next year.
Compared to increases at 16 peer institutions, he added, the cost of attending ISU is still a bargain. Those schools include the University of Montana, Portland State University, Montana State University and the University of North Dakota, among others.
He said the average tuition and fees at those universities was $5,273 in 2008.
Fletcher said ISU is doing everything possible to limit such increases to the lowest level possible. He said the University of Idaho requested a 7.9 percent increase and Boise State University requested 6.1 percent.
"We are not funding our budget on the back of our students. We refuse to do that," Fletcher said.
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