EVANSVILLE - While Vincennes University is proposing a $400 tuition increase for full-time students over the next two years, officials are also proposing to freeze room and board rates for the 2015-16 year.
Per Indiana law, university officials are hosting a public hearing on the proposals at 1:30 EDT June 12 in the Learning Resources Center, Room 167. The building is located at 130 E. College Avenue in Vincennes.
Duane Chattin, university spokesman, said tuition for Hoosier students in the 2015-16 year will increase by $200. Another $200 increase will occur in the 2016-17 year.
Current tuition for Indiana students taking five, three credit hour classes per semester is $4,942.20 for the year, Chattin said.
If the proposal is approved, 2015-16 tuition would rise to $5,142.20. And in 2016-17 it would increase another $200 to $5,342.20.
The proposal freezes room and board rates — only available at the Vincennes-based campus — for 2015-16. Chattin said costs between the six residence halls and meal plans vary between sites. For example, a 10-meal plan at Vanderburgh Hall is currently $4,470, while a 10 meal plan at Godare, Harrison, Morris and Vigo halls is $4,235. Those are expected to remain the same next year.
The proposals represent a 1.4 percent increase for full-time residential students in the 2015-16 year, which officials state is the lowest increase in multiple decades.
The increases are needed to cover rising instructional, operating, repair and rehabilitation costs for the university.
A video conference will be set up at the main VU campus and broadcast at other campuses: VU Jasper Campus, Indianapolis Aviation Technology Center, Gibson County Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics, and the Plainfield Logistics Training and Education Center.
University officials said VU offers the lowest residential rates in Indiana, and is the state's top transfer institution, which has contributed to the highest enrollments in university history.