Making a world-class education more affordable: IU to offer significantly discounted undergraduate tuition for summer-session students

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oct. 24, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana University today (Oct. 24) unveiled a plan to significantly reduce undergraduate tuition for summer-semester students beginning in 2012 in order to provide financial relief to many of its students, promote year-round college attendance and decrease the time it takes many students to earn a degree.

After announcing a new IU plan to help undergraduates save money and graduate sooner, IU President Michael A. McRobbie listens as Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers praised the initiative. Print-Quality Photo

Beginning next summer, Indiana resident undergraduates enrolled at any of the seven IU campuses statewide will receive a 25-percent discount in tuition for courses taken in the summer. Nonresident undergraduate students will receive an equivalent dollar reduction in their tuition. For those students who take a full academic course load in the summer, the tuition reductions will result in a savings ranging from more than $700 at IU's regional campuses to about $1,000 at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and $1,050 at IU Bloomington.

The plan, announced by IU President Michael A. McRobbie at a news conference on the IUPUI campus, also will allow for more efficient use of university facilities across the state. The university administration will submit a plan for discounted summer tuition to the IU Board of Trustees for approval at a special meeting later this week.

"This large tuition discount is being offered to IU students in order to provide important financial relief for students and their families and also a significant financial incentive for attending IU year-round," McRobbie said. "Greater attendance in the summer will allow IU to make more efficient use of its facilities. It also will provide an affordable option for students who want to complete their degrees at IU on a faster track than the traditional model."

Enhanced flexibility and better use of summer sessions were recommended in two major faculty-administration reports completed in the last academic year: the New Academic Directions report for the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses, and the Blueprint for Student Attainment for the IU regional campuses. Late last year, the Bloomington faculty also adopted a new, longer summer session to allow for more flexible and creative use of the summer period. The tuition discount plan will support all of these initiatives.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels supported the plan as a way to help students and make better use of the university's buildings and facilities.

"Every college and university should be looking for ways to help students get more education for their dollar," Daniels said. "IU's idea to maximize use of its facilities year-round is a good one, and one that should be imitated at all of our schools. I hope to see campuses full of hardworking students next summer."

Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers attended today's announcement and applauded the initiative as an example of the type of organizational innovation necessary in this difficult economic climate to help keep high-quality higher education affordable for Hoosier students.

"The commission appreciates efforts by Indiana University and our other higher education institutions that reflect a priority on reducing college costs and promoting timely degree completion," said Lubbers.

IU currently operates summer sessions at its campuses across the state, and summer enrollment has remained relatively constant for the past decade. In 2011, approximately 43,000 individual students took at least one class during the summer, representing less than 40 percent of IU's total student population.

"For public universities to thrive and grow in these challenging times, we have to be willing to re-examine everything we do with an eye toward finding efficiencies and adapting to the needs of our students who will be entering the 21st-century global marketplace," McRobbie said.

"This initiative reflects the world in which our students live today and provides them valuable financial relief as they pursue their degrees," he added. "I am confident this will help us graduate more students in less time and allow our graduates to leave IU with less debt as they start their careers."