IU, Purdue rejecting more Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) - The recession is causing a dramatic increase in applications at several state universities.

While that may sound like good news, it hasn't been positive for Hoosier students who are being rejected from the schools of their choice.

In the past ten years, Indiana University and Purdue have been shutting out Hoosier students and accepting high paying out of state students.

Ashley Strube, a senior at Decatur Central was crushed when she was rejected by the only university she's ever wanted to attend, Indiana University Bloomington.

Ashley said, "And then not getting in and just feeling like, 'Why won't you accept me?'"

Ashley's mom, Susan Strube, said, "It was almost like a slap in the face."

Both Ashley's dad and mom are IU grads. But those alumni roots didn't get Ashley automatic admittance to the landmark IU sample gates.

Decatur Central Assistant Principal Cathy Tooley wonders why Ashley's own hard work wasn't enough.

"She's active in her church. She's in National Honor Society, top 10% of her class, so I just wish someone would please tell me, what did Ashley Strube not do? So that I can help somebody else never feel this pain again," said Tooley.

24-Hour News 8 took Ashley's transcript to IU President Michael McRobbie. Her transcript shows that she's ranked 24 out of 283 in her class, so she is in the top 10%. Her GPA is 3.517.

President McRobbie said, "Obviously I can't comment on that case. If you want to give me the details, if you have them there we'll have them looked at and see if there's any grounds to have her case reconsidered."

A day after interviewing President McRobbie, 24-Hour News 8 was contacted by IU Provost for Enrollment Management Roger Thompson. He couldn't discuss Ashley's case, but told us this fall; the average freshman at IU Bloomington had an SAT score of 1174 out of 1600. He says the lowest score was about 1050. Ashley's SAT score was 970.

Susan said, "One test is going to determine what they think her future should hold?"

Before we showed President McRobbie Ashley's transcript, he indicated one test shouldn't be the only determining factor for admittance.

"We don't want to be bound by any one measure whether it’s GPA's or SAT's," said President McRobbie.

President McRobbie doesn't apologize for increasingly tougher Bloomington admission standards.

"It will get harder for students to get into the university," said McRobbie.

That's quite a contrast from several years ago when IU was blistered by a Carnegie Foundation report that found it had the lowest entrance standards in the Big Ten.

"I'm very much impressed by President McRobbie. But he knows that the number of Hoosiers going to the IU Bloomington campus has significantly decreased," said Ray Richardson, former Indiana University trustee and former state representative.

Richardson believes IU Bloomington and Purdue West Lafayette are dismissing local students like Ashley for one reason: money.

News 8 found the number of in-state undergraduate students at IU Bloomington has dropped 10% since 1998, to just over 60%. The number of in-state undergraduates at Purdue West Lafayette has also dropped about 10%, to 65%.

"Indiana University is a public university. They ought to act like one," said Richardson.

The difference in tuition is significant between in-state and out-of-state students. Out-of-state students at Purdue West Lafayette pay almost three times the tuition as in-state students. It's the same situation in Bloomington where in-state tuition was about a third that of out-of-state kids.

"So IU has seen an opportunity to make some real serious money here and they jumped at it. That would be what you would expect out of a private corporation, not out of a public institution," said Richardson.

President McRobbie attributes the increase in out-of-state students to the need for global and national diversity. But, he concedes money is a reason too.

"The out-of-state students are not pushing anybody out," said McRobbie.

McRobbie said the state reimburses IU Bloomington for approximately 20,000 Hoosier students a year, which means tuition from out-of-state students actually subsidizes some in-state students. Purdue receives the same subsidies.

News 8 tried to talk with Purdue President France Cordova, but she cancelled two scheduled interviews.

News 8 e-mailed questions to Purdue Chief Financial Officer James Almond. When asked about the drop in in-state students on the West Lafayette campus he responded, "Purdue West Lafayette's campus consistently enrolled over 20,500 undergraduates from Indiana. Purdue on a system-wide basis offered admissions to all but 100 of applicants this school year."

Richardson recently sent a letter to members of the Indiana General Assembly, asking them to lift the cap on the number of Hoosier students it subsidizes, so the tuition from out of state students would not be as necessary

Indiana House Speaker Patrick Bauer said, "That's pretty amazing. That's a bigger drop than I thought."

Bauer seemed stunned when News 8 showed him the ten year drop in in-state students in Bloomington and at West Lafayette. He suspects the flagship campuses are admitting more out-of-state students to boost their international reputations. But, he says that's a good thing.

"Now having two great research universities helps attract certain kinds of jobs," said Bauer.

However, he worries that those students are contributing to Indiana's brain drain.

"Students come from other states and then they go back, so they count that as part of the brain drain," said Bauer.

Bauer said he needs to look more closely at the universities' motives before deciding to push for more funding for in-state students.

For Ashley Strube, a legislative investigation comes too late. She's considering going deeper into debt to attend a private college.

"She'll bounce back and she'll be OK, and it's IU's loss," said Tooley.

No one argues that the flagship campuses should only take in-state students. But, there is concern that the balance will shift in favor of out-of-state students.

Richardson and Bauer think the balance should return to the days of 70% to 72% in-state students. President McRobbie said the right balance is about 62% in-state, 38% out-of-state. McRobbie doesn't believe there will come a time when there will be more out-of-state students than Hoosier students at Bloomington or West Lafayette.

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