BSU president wants shift to tuition system

BOISE – Boise State University President Bob Kustra asked lawmakers Wednesday to consider doing away with student fees at some of the state’s major institutions and moving them to a tuition-based system.

Kustra, speaking before the House Education Committee, said the state should consider moving Idaho State University, Lewis-Clark State College and Boise State to tuition.

“It’s beginning to hamstring universities,” Kustra said. “We’re forced to shuffle money around in a way that’s difficult even for us to keep track of.”

Kustra said 48 other states use tuition, which can be used to finance teacher salaries and other basic academic expenses.

“Let’s recognize it for what it is,” Kustra told members of the House Education Committee this week. “(Students) expect their money to go toward instruction.”

Kustra spoke less than a week after student leaders at Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College announced they were filing a lawsuit against the state Board of Education, claiming there needs to be more “transparency” in fee increases.

Idaho State student body President Terry Fredrickson called Kustra’s request “ridiculous” and said it would be a major blow to Idaho students.

“They want to pass legislation they’ve been doing already for quite a while,” he said. “I can’t even express how this appalls me and what this would do to the Idaho education structure.”

Fredrickson believes by adopting tuition, lawmakers would give tacit approval to impose future financial burdens on Idaho students.

State law prohibits public schools from charging residents tuition. But in 1986, lawmakers defined tuition as only the cost of instruction at colleges and universities – leaving the state free to charge fees for school maintenance, student services, institutional support and other costs that go along with running a university.

Idaho State University President Richard Bowen was not present at the committee meeting and could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but Fredrickson said Kustra’s words do not hold true in all corners of the state.

“What (Kustra) said, essentially, is that people who can pay to go to college can pay for the others,” he said. “At ISU, 77 percent of the students are on some sort of welfare.

The first step for changing the student fee structure at Idaho universities will take place Monday at a state Board of Education meeting in Boise. The issue has been placed on the agenda.

Any statutory change allowing some of Idaho’s colleges and universities to charge tuition wouldn’t affect the University of Idaho, whose charter is anchored in the Idaho Constitution.

As a result, charging tuition there would require a vote of Idaho residents, officials have said.