OUR VIEW: Moving money

This editorial has been updated to reflect that a proposal to move costs from tuition to mandatory fees is not directly related to the proposal to charge some students higher fees.

Ball State needs to cut $11.8 million from its budget. School officials are considering tuition changes that would move some of the cost to mandatory fees, and a separate proposal that would charge some students more to attend the university.

They're moving money on a spreadsheet. The bigger issue is the extra money tacked on for architecture, nursing, business and music students.

We knew this was coming. It's just too bad they're finding the difference by turning to the pockets of just some student.

We understand it costs more because of the technology and smaller class size. But wouldn't we be better off to share the weight of these cuts? Some of these students are already paying extra fees. Why penalize them with a larger financial burden for the types of classes they decide to take?

The plan would penalize students who have more than 144 credits but haven't earned an undergraduate degree by tacking on an additional $150 per credit hour. Students need 126 credits to graduate, and if you're still here after earning 144 hours, you definitely need a kick out the door. This rule would apply to about 90 students, according to Randy Howard, vice president for business affairs.

There will be those students who aspire to be a triple major or are still trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. Tacking on extra fees won't encourage them to graduate any faster.

All the recommendations can be found at bsudailynews.com.

These things aren't set in stone. They're part of a proposal that will guide the vice presidents in setting next year's tuition.

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education suggested a 2.5 to 3.5 percent increase in tuition, and Ball State is likely to follow the recommendation. A three percent increase means an increase of $225. That's right in the middle of the possible tuition increases among Indiana public colleges. Purdue would lead the pack with a $272 increase, and Ivy Tech would see just a $94 increase.

The recommendation was made Friday and is following a national trend. A tuition increase is inevitable for universities in Utah, for example, according to the state's System of Higher Education. But most of their increases are just 2 or 2.5 percent.

Students were spared last year. That was mainly because tuition is set every two years, and the board didn't want to rock the boat by raising tuition in the middle of a biennium.

Last year's budget cuts affected mainly faculty and staff through salary freezes and changes to health care.

Now it's our turn; we understand that. And to make it more bearable, we'd like to face it together.

Lots of us pay our own way for college, stretching the amount of Pell Grants and other loans we can receive. But what if it gets too expensive for some of our classmates? And what if their education could have been salvaged if we all shared the burden?