MUNCIE, Ind. - To ensure the continued quality of its educational programs and in light of severe state budget cuts, Ball State University's board of trustees today approved a 10 percent increase in summer tuition.

"The increase in summer fees is higher than it has been in recent years, and we want students who will be attending summer school to have this information as early as possible so they can factor it into their plans," said Blaine A. Brownell, university president.

"The first round of state cuts will deeply affect Ball State through the end of the fiscal year and beyond," said Thomas Kinghorn, the university's vice president for business affairs and treasurer. "We felt this increase would allow us to meet our immediate basic operational needs."

Kinghorn told the board the cuts announced Wednesday by Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon will cost Ball State $8 million in operating appropriations and $10.3 million in payment delays before the fiscal year ends June 30.

The university did not set tuition rates for next fall, but Brownell, Kinghorn and other members of the university's senior staff discussed long-range funding with the trustees.

"We never take significant tuition increases lightly -- in fact they are quite difficult -- but Ball State must maintain its commitment to the aspirations set out in the strategic plan so the university's graduates are prepared to succeed in an economy that is increasingly driven by information and technology," Brownell said. "The decisions we make now will affect this university and the state for the next 20 years."

Ball State adopted a five-year strategic plan last year, with the goal of positioning the university as a national model in learner-centered education.

"To pursue our goals requires more revenue growth than the state can provide now and in the future," Brownell said. "We will continue to seek grant money and private donations to fund our programs and to aid our students, but the reality is if someone wants the kind of quality education Ball State offers, they are going to have to shoulder more of the burden.

The state cuts are already affecting the university's goal of providing an education rich in technology, and because the governor has threatened to make even deeper cuts, other goals laid out in the strategic plan are also in jeopardy, Brownell said.

Warren Vander Hill, provost and vice president for academic affairs, told the board that Ball State is beginning to have difficulty competing in a national market for top-quality faculty.

"For the first time we are seeing excellent scholar-teachers -- the type of people we'd like to keep at Ball State -- leaving for institutions across the country that can pay them a more competitive salary," he said. That concerns me the most, because faculty drive the quality of our programs.