Daniels pitches ‘opportunity’ to Higher Ed Commission
October 9, 2014
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue is working to answer the challenges now confronting higher education and to become an engine of economic growth for Indiana.
That was the message Purdue President Mitch Daniels presented Thursday (Oct. 9) to members of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
The commission was on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus to hear budget presentations by state higher education institutions Purdue, Ball State University, Ivy Tech Community College, Vincennes University and the University of Southern Indiana. Indiana University and Indiana State University presented their budgets Sept. 11 in Bloomington.
Daniels highlighted Purdue budget requests that include increased investments in the university’s Purdue Moves initiatives, supporting efforts in student affordability and strategic growth. He presented data showing progress in the areas of STEM leadership and world-changing research and success in efforts to expand summer enrollment, double the rate of classroom transformation, and reduce student debt.
In the past year, Daniels told commissioners, Purdue has extended its tuition freeze for a third year, curbed housing and meal costs, and partnered with Amazon to help with textbook savings. Perhaps more importantly, new efforts in financial education for students have resulted in an 18 percent reduction in student debt, down $21 million from fiscal 2012-13 levels. That is in stark contrast to recent data that show an increase nationally in student borrowing across the economic spectrum.
The university, already a national leader in transformative education, also continues to change the way classes are taught, with the goal of redesigning 60 classes per year so that students — including all freshmen by 2017 — are more engaged in their curricular experiences, and expanding summer offerings to help students move more quickly to their degrees and increase the four-year graduation rate.
As part of its budget request for 2015-17, Purdue is asking the state for $5 million in its efforts toward summer expansion.
Purdue also is requesting additional funding for engineering expansion and the transformation of the College of Technology into the Purdue Polytechnic Institute.
Purdue is asking the state for $6 million for College of Engineering expansion — to invest in new faculty hires and supplement the private fundraising goal of $150 million — supporting the initiative to increase the number of engineering graduates employed in Indiana and spur the growth of new companies from faculty and student entrepreneurs. In addition, the university is requesting an additional $3 million for the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, transformed from the College of Technology, to provide opportunities for students and faculty to focus on applied research and a renewed focus on workforce development to help the state prosper.
Purdue’s budget request to the Commission for Higher Education is the first step in a biennial process that leads to state support benefiting all 92 Indiana counties through the various Purdue campuses and Extension offices. In addition to the line-item requests and funding Purdue can expect to receive though the state’s institutional performance metrics, Purdue is also requesting $397.8 million in capital appropriations for use across all campuses. The Commission for Higher Education will consider Purdue’s budget request and provide its recommendation to the General Assembly, which will address the budget in the legislative session in spring 2015.
