June 18, 2021
Dear Colleagues:
Earlier today, the Board of Trustees held a meeting to adopt our operating budget for next academic year. The operating budget that the Board approved addresses the challenges presented by the pandemic, while continuing to provide a high-quality, affordable education for our students.
Our operating budget for the next academic year includes a salary plan that will provide a 1.5-percent recurring increase in the salary fund pool for all eligible faculty, staff, and professional employees.
The Board also approved my recommendation to provide "2021: Days of Beneficence" as a gesture of appreciation for your sustained service throughout the pandemic. These extra days off will occur during the coming holiday season on Monday, December 27, 2021; Tuesday, December 28, 2021; Wednesday, December 29, 2021; and Thursday, December 30, 2021.
After our "2020: Days of Beneficence," I heard from many of you that you and your colleagues appreciated having those extra days off at the end of last year to relax and to recharge. This year, the trustees and I wanted to again demonstrate our gratitude to you by providing this same opportunity to spend more time with your families and friends over the upcoming holiday season.
Some of our employees will be designated by their supervisors to work on these additional holidays. Designated employees will be compensated for their work in accordance with our existing policies for holiday pay.
In other news, the Board also approved an increase of 1.45% in undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees for each of the next two academic years. These small increases extend a decade’s-long commitment of remaining at or below the Indiana Commission for Higher Education recommendations for tuition increases. And our sustained period of low tuition growth remains the longest for our University since World War II.
When combined with the Board’s approval today of no new increases to our room and board rates or to parking permits and fees for students and employees, the total increase in cost of attendance for next academic year is the lowest increase in 20 years at our University.
I look forward to seeing you again soon. Together, we can look forward to a new academic year and the much-anticipated return of our traditional campus schedule.
