For Purdue University students, staff and faculty, it could be good news and more good news.
The Board of Trustees on Friday will decide whether to endorse a tuition freeze for the fourth straight year alongside a 3.5 percent merit pay increase for employees at the West Lafayette campus, President Mitch Daniels told the Journal & Courier in an interview Wednesday.
To top it off, trustees will discuss an increase in entry-level wages to $10 per hour for full-time clerical and service staff. Anyone currently under that threshold will be bumped up, Daniels said.
It could be a long-awaited raise, lobbied for in the past year by the University Senate but blemished by the university’s attempts to reduce health and paid time off benefits.
The senate also questioned whether another tuition freeze can be sustainably paired with pay raises. Daniels said the budget is proof — at least for now — that it’s possible.
“I think this budget reflects it,” Daniels said.
Under the tuition freeze, Indiana residents pay $10,002, out-of-state students pay $28,804 and international students pay $30,804.