IUSB looking to improve student experience amid budget cuts.

Students will not feel any of the budget cuts that have been announced. Instead the university is trying to improve the student experience.

“The student lounge, it’s a way to bring a direct positive impact to the students,” said Bill O’Donnell, director of fiscal affairs.

The lounge is to help give the students quality space to study or relax, said O’Donnell. Though the tuition will be increasing, something that has already been approved, other fees will not.

With the student lounge in Northside nearing completion, the other lounge will be closed to be renovated, said O’Donnell. The school is looking into ways to fix the budget without affecting any students or student-oriented programs.

The university is looking at different budgets and ones that are not fully utilized will be reduced. However, the budget that affects student services is not being reduced.

But to help balance the budget and make the university run more efficiently, IU President Michael McRobbie has asked all campuses that if a position becomes vacant half of the salary for the position goes into an account. Money that is not used in other accounts will be moved to budgets that need more.

In addition to setting money aside, IU is also looking to make campuses more energy efficient.

The lounge in Northside will have energy efficient lighting and special tracking in the ceiling that allows artwork to be hung from a string and not from a nail in the wall.

“Not just trying to reduce energy and spaces, we are installing energy efficient light fixture and a motion detector,” said O’Donnell. This would mean that when no one is in the lounge, the detector turns the lights off. Contractors are bidding to renovate the campus’s energy usage. They have gone through the campus, indoors and out, and are putting together proposals with what will save the university more money, said O’Donnell. Indiana University is paying for each IU campus to have this done.

Among other things being cut are organization memberships that the University holds, office supplies and travel expenses, which have been cut by half. There will also be no salary increases.

“What we’re trying to do is find savings throughout the campus,” said O’Donnell.

“As we’re losing state support we are more and more dependant on tuition,” said O’Donnell, “we are also trying to be careful with the funds we do have and how we spend them.”

“We feel that is one area where we can try to help students is not to increase parking or the other fees,” said O’Donnell.

• Facebook Comments
• Site Comments

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out