Universities Go Before The State Budget Committee

Leaders from Indiana’s public universities made their biennial trip to the State Budget Committee Wednesday in advance of a new state budget that legislators will debate early next year. 

A big part of the universities’ presentations is proving to the committee how much work they’ve put into improving their institutions.  And graduating students on-time is a major focus of the legislature, so one of Purdue president – and former governor – Mitch Daniels’ budget requests is more money to help increase the number of students taking summer classes.

“If we can get some momentum and get this to be more of an expected part of the Purdue culture, we hope even to move further and, I don’t know, one day perhaps to really qualify as a year-round university,” Daniels said.

Some university presidents weren’t shy about voicing their concerns.  One focus was the performance funding formula that helps determine how state dollars are doled out.  The formula includes measures such as number of degrees and on-time completion rate.  Indiana State University president Daniel Bradley says the formula can be problematic.

“We’ve got a dog-eat-dog effort to get appropriation.  So we have Indiana State in a fight with Ivy Tech, IU and others to get dollars, as opposed to working together for the benefit of the state,” Bradley said.

The performance formula is set to have a greater impact than previous years on how much state funding universities will receive in the next budget.