Funding cuts loom over IU, Ivy Tech in 2010

By Mike Leonard, Herald-Times

mleonard@heraldt.com

The perpetual goal of constant improvement will clash with decreases in state funding to institutions of higher education in 2010, tempering the outlook for the upcoming year at both Indiana University and Ivy Tech.

"The state budget would be the first item that IU is going to have to deal with in 2010," IU trustee Stephen Ferguson said recently. The Bloomington-based trustee said federal stimulus money has not been generous enough to make up for declining state revenue and that will continue to force IU into budget reductions beyond cuts already made.

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has recommended that IU cut its already-approved budget by 5.8 percent over the next 18 months and for the Ivy Tech system to reduce expenditures by 3.49 percent.

"In 2010, IU will battle to maintain its excellence while the state hits us with the double whammy of unfulfilled budget commitments on the revenue side and coerced concessions on tuition," trustees Vice President Pat Shoulders said. "We will continue to find ways to cut expenses and increase philanthropic and research-based funding in the realization that we cannot depend upon government to put its money where its demands are.