Shelbie Harris
News Editor
Full-time tuition at Idaho State University will again increase for the 2016 academic year.
Although tuition is increasing and has been for ISU students for the last 27 years, the annual rate of increase has been decreasing since 2011.
“We’ve been consistently bringing down the rate of increase because we’re concerned with affordability,” said vice president for finance and administration, James Fletcher.
Unlike previous years in which a proposal for tuition and fee changes was constructed by university officials and brought forth to the State Board of Education (SBOE) in April, this year the SBOE opted to set a target at the beginning of the year.
“This required all the financial vice presidents to come forward in January with a response to the target,” said Fletcher. “This could be somewhat problematic, because what [the SBOE] is asking you to do in January is to sign up to a tuition target without knowing hardly anything about enrollment, various costs and you don’t know what other areas are going to need because those areas won’t come forward until the March time frame.”
Essentially the SBOE set a tuition target, which required academic institutions such as Idaho State University to back into a target range of somewhere between a 3.3 and 3.6 percent increase.
In order to function successfully a university such as Idaho State is dependent upon not only tuition and fees from attending students, but also appropriation provided by the SBOE and legislation.
Appropriation provided by the SBOE and tuition required from students work together to balance each other out.
Lately, it appears the balance has swayed to the side of the students and their respective tuition and fees.
A major contributing factor to the increase in tuition for ISU students is the $352 million dollars of deferred maintenance across the next five years at ISU.
“We have a relatively old campus,” said Fletcher. “For example, the Division of Building Safety came in and reported that Davis Field must be shut down because it’s not compliant to code. The [Works Progress Administration] WPA built Davis Field in 1936 so it’s about time for some of these problems to manifest.”
In addition to Davis Field requiring maintenance and upkeep, there were a number of problems regarding Holt Arena, specifically the restrooms and lastly the Stephens Preforming Arts Center required some maintenance as well.
Yes, tuition and fees ensure the upkeep and maintenance of the University, however these fees also acquire new equipment and technologies for student use, provide events and facilities for student use and pay for faculty and staff salaries.
For the 2016 fiscal year 450 employees, including Idaho State University President Arthur C. Vailas, received a four percent increase in salary, 587 received a three percent increase, 419 received a two percent increase, and nine received a one percent increase.
Although Vailas’ salary increase is based upon a performance review conducted by the SBOE, all other cabinet members and university officials performance reviews are conducted internally within the institution.
“Every year the state of Idaho puts together what is called the Change in Employee Compensation Bill (CEC),” said Director of Human Resources, Brian Sagendorf.
“Basically it’s the employee raise bill that must go through legislation every year to determine what type of funding will be provided to the bill, and then those dollars are distributed to all the agencies.”
Further to receiving a four percent increase in salary, President Vailas’ three-year contract with ISU has been extended again by the SBOE by an additional year for the fifth consecutive year, meaning that it continues to be a three-year agreement that commences June 18, 2015 and expires June 17, 2018.
“Essentially Dr. Vailas consistently speaks of the state 60 percent goal and that’s the goal the board set for Idahoans age twenty-five to thirty-four to have some sort of post-secondary degree or certification,” said Blake Youde, chief communications and legislative affairs officer for the Idaho State Board of Education.
Vailas has gone before the legislation when asking for appropriation for the Bengal Bridge Program and talked about how those are in line with the goals of the 60 percent and has spoken about college introductory and advisory programs are critical for students to be successful while attending ISU.
“Another example is [Vailas] has really embraced this dual role that ISU has in regards to the Carnegie classification as a research institution offering four-year degrees plus graduate degrees, and at the same time you have the College of Technology that offers two-year degrees in technical programs,” Youde said.
“I don’t think there are many institutions that do that nationally and certainly not in Idaho, and he has really taken that to heart and seen all levels succeed,” Youde added.
