The Hoosier State Legislature is being asked to provide hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to the State's universities. We, Hoosier taxpayers, and voters, are further asked to provide hundreds of millions of dollars through our tuition payments for our children at these very same universities.
This unending asking should come with a certain thank-you, appreciation, and fiduciary duty on the part of the recipients, never mind the Indiana State Legislature and Governor Mike Pence who provide other people's money to universities. Sadly none of this is in fact the case.
(The latest news is that Hoosiers are trading a two year tuition freeze, which benefits mostly out-of-state students, for no 10% income tax reduction.)
Hoosier higher education, with the irresponsible Commission of Higher Education headed by Teresa Lubbers, are all like the little children you have raised. They want you to give without asking questions and all the while think less of you, i.e. Hoosiers, for your values and your willingness to give money.
Our local Hoosier legislators need to read what the presidents, the boards of trustees, and the faculty think of their ideas and values. Look at the following article from Bloomington's Indiana University. It is indicative of what all the campuses think of Indiana Hoosiers. We, Hoosiers, are beneath "academia" or too lowly to ask why, what, and where about our money. How, and for what, is it being spent?
The big fear of the universities is two fold. One, the State Legislature may actually ask for a detailed, outside, accounting of where does all the money go. Second, the Indiana State Legislature may want to look at a cost benefit analysis. If this analysis is done for economic and civics return to Indiana, it will be discovered that millions of tax dollars are going to waste. The biggest use of the tax dollars and tuition dollars will very likely come under fraud, waste, and abuse.
Hoosier universities do NOT provide substantive value to the State of Indiana. Hoosier flagship universities, Indiana University and Purdue University, comprise approximately 45% out-of-state students in each. By comparison, University of Illinois is about 10-12% and the citizens of Illinois and their legislature have complained about U of I wanting to go up to 25%. (Indiana University is #2 and Purdue University is #4 in the country for their percentage of out-of-state students.) It is interesting to note that by most measures, U of I is considered academically better than Purdue or Indiana.
One can also argue, and rightfully so, that none of these three universities provide economic or civic value return to their respective states.
Hoosier representative need to step forward and have courage before turning over OUR money for fraudulent and wasteful usage. It is time that the representative set Hoosier values, civic and economic values, for the monies the keep turning over to other people who in fact detest Hoosier values.
