A news feature story about Indiana Universitys effort to control student costs by making it more likely that students will graduate on time - Essay Example

DRAFT The Indiana has revised its costs for taking a degree downwards. This comes after the last year decided on a freeze for students making adequate progress in a program. The move has also seen a discount in the summer classes.
Due to the increased costs of doing a degree, the Inbdiana University has declared a freeze for students who are in the course of graduating in four years. This decision will affect students who are on their sophomore year. Mr. McRobbie, during the annual state of the University took the opportunity to announce this. According to Mr.McRobbie, the program will allow qualified students to receive on-time completion award equal to any increase in tuition and fees that they could otherwise have incurred during their final two years in the university. The program will also allow any qualifying student who has not graduated to pay the current tuition and fee according to the current rates for any time at Indiana University beyond their fourth year. This move is seen as a step aimed at encouraging students to graduate in four years without having to incur excessive debt. To eco this, McRobbie said ”this award makes two things clear: that we are serious about holding down the cost of an IU degree, and that we are equally serious about providing tools and incentives to help students stay on course for on-time degree completion.”. He continued to state, “The University has clearly put into consideration both the students and families message that to them, cost matters when pursuing a degree course. Our efforts in trying to keep our degrees at affordable standards will not only improve will not only improve on graduation time rates, but also lower the cost of the degree.”
The university has not only sought to reduce the tuition costs alone. It has instituted a financial literacy program for students. The move was welcome by students who saw it as a great relief from the backlog of academic tuitions as well as instilling more knowledge on their financial understanding. Most of the students in their final years of their study previously, were not exempted from class work. “This move by the university comes as a relief to most students who are on their final years of their studies with minimal work to cover. Indeed, mostly, students at this stage of their program rarely attend classes,” Said the Universities’ student spokesperson in an interview. “At least, we now can position ourselves as students with enough information on financial literacy” he states. Parents see this as a blessing and congratulate the university for the thoughtful move. By encouraging students to gradiuate within four years of their academic completion, plus a fine on their Unnecessary costs incurred by parents on students who have not graduated after the four years and the penalties there in, have been removed. As a parent, I feel that this is the best way to go in sustaining a sound and inclusive university education system without having to
To conform to the rules enacted last year on degree requirements for baccalaureate and associate degrees, the university has revised its reviewed its programs. For reasons of accerdition, quality and competitiveness of its programs, the university has decided to increase credits for some of the degrees. John Applegate, the excecutive vice president for the versity regional affairs, planning and policy confirms this. “our academic administrators, against a tight deadline, have put forth a tremendous effort to undertake such a comprehensive review, and make deductions in more than 85 percent of the degrees that required to be adjusted.” Read More