A Five-Part Series: The Cost of Indiana Colleges

Week One | The Crises in College Costs

Week Two | Financial Aid: Benefits and Unintended Consequences

Week Three | Debt Service Takes Money from Instruction

Week Four | Fees, Surcharges and Overcharges Create Additional Burden for Students (moves May 19 for May 21 release)

Week Five | Bringing Accountability to Higher Ed Pricing (moves May 23 for May 28 release)
 

 
EVERY 10 YEARS, tuition doubles at Indiana's four-year public universities. Add in room and board and the average annual cost of higher education totals between $14,000 and $16,000 a year.

In a series of articles, Andrea Neal details the effects on Indiana students. Eighty percent of them work to pay bills, and they’re working an average of 30 hours weekly, according to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. They are borrowing more than ever and graduating with higher debt loads, an average of $17,250.

An even more worrisome trend: A growing portion of their debt is privately financed at interest rates similar to credit cards. “The cost of attending these institutions is getting so high it’s beyond what students can pony up,” says Jeff Spalding, senior associate commissioner at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

Some of the reasons for rising costs are predictable: faculty salaries and health-care premiums, energy costs, the collegiate "arms race" to have the best faculty and programs and the inflationary effects of financial aid. A study by the Indiana Policy Review also reveals hidden costs distinctive to Indiana that are pushing prices out of the reach of some. Chief among them is an appetite for bigger and better buildings — paid for by debt service and extra fees and surcharges tacked onto student bills. The series examines all these trends and what can be done to bring costs down.

 
The author, an adjunct scholar of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, teaches history at St. Richards School In Indianapolis. As editor of the Indianapolis Star's editorial page, Neal was recognized three years in a row as the state¹s top editorial writer, holding the 1998 National Award for Education Writing. Earlier in her career, Neal was a reporter for United Press International, covering the Indianapolis Legislature and, in Washington, the Supreme Court of the United States. Fluent in Spanish, Neal studied on a Rotary International fellowship at the University of the Americas in Mexico. She holds a BA in history and Latin American studies, graduating magna cum laude with honors from Brown University. Neal, the winner of the National Historical Society Prize, teaches history at St. Richards School in Indianapolis.