WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University officials on Tuesday (Sept. 8) announced a program to keep the institution one of the best values in the country.

Purdue plans to rebate $250 of the $500 student success fee to Indiana undergraduate students for the 2010-2011 academic year using federal stimulus funds. This is in addition to the previously announced (July 13) rebate of $500 for Hoosier undergraduates Purdue had already implemented for 09-10.

Purdue President France A. Córdova announced plans to rebate $250 of the $500 student success fee to Indiana undergraduate students for the 2010-2011 academic year using federal stimulus funds. This is in addition to the previously announced (July 13) rebate of $500 for Hoosier undergraduates Purdue had already implemented for the 2009-2010 school year. Also, in an effort to keep Purdue affordable, Córdova announced that all students qualifying for both federal and state financial aid will have their financial aid from Purdue boosted to offset the increase in tuition and fees for both the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years.

Purdue will spend $6 million to fund both years of the rebate and the increase in financial aid to students.

“This is one more step we are able to take to ensure that a Purdue degree remains accessible and affordable,” Córdova said. “While the recent rankings placed Purdue as one of the top institutions in the country, our tuition and fees currently rank eighth among our public Big Ten peers. Purdue continues to be an exceptional value for Indiana and the nation.”

University officials considered a variety of plans to help offset tuition costs, listening carefully to faculty who wanted to make sure that university resources remained dedicated to the overall mission of access and student success.

State Budget Committee chairman Sen. Luke Kenley said the announcement was a benefit for Hoosier families, especially in light of Purdue’s prior efforts.

“We’re glad to see that Purdue is working on keeping college tuition affordable for Indiana families,” Kenley said. “Adding this effort to what they’ve already done will help more Indiana students through these rough economic times.”

Measures Purdue already has undertaken included using federal stimulus funds to rebate the $500 student success fee for new-to-campus resident undergraduates; aggressively raising money for new scholarships like the Marquis, the only university-provided scholarship in Indiana designed specifically to help good students from middle-class families; and freezing salaries and cutting $9.8 million from the university’s annual budget.

The student success fee of $500 only applies to students who were new to campus starting after spring semester 2009 since the money would be used to create programs to help develop courses and support programs to improve learning and student achievement. Córdova said using stimulus funds to offset the rebates means the university would be able to fund the student success programs over the next two years.

Two recent examples include Ideas to Innovations, a new way to teach freshman engineering students that already has increased attendance and student performance, and Signals, a $600,000 computer program that helps students monitor their class work and warns them if they need to attend help sessions or step up their homework.

Purdue has raised more than $100 million towards Córdova’s $304 million Access and Success campaign, now in its second year. Total financial aid and student support at Purdue for 2009-10 is estimated at $510 million – the most ever – and three out of four Purdue students receive some type of financial assistance.

Purdue is consistently labeled a great value for education. The university was recently ranked 22nd nationally among public research universities – a jump of four places from last year’s ranking – yet its tuition remains among the lowest of the top universities. In January 2009, Purdue was ranked ninth in SmartMoney magazine’s college “payback” survey, which quantified the long-term value of a college education.

“We are committed to maintaining Purdue’s great value for our students, while focusing on academic quality and institutional excellence,” said Keith Krach, chairman of the Purdue Board of Trustees.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) and the Arts Council of Indianapolis announced today that 24 cultural program providers will receive federal economic stimulus funds totaling more than a half-million dollars.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds will be coming to Indiana from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help retain jobs at local arts organizations and cultural programming providers threatened by declines in philanthropic support during the current economic downturn.

The first installment of federal stimulus grants was announced early this week by the NEA and in the form of direct grants to five Indiana organizations. Those organizations include Elkhart Center, Inc. ($50,000); Fischoff National Chamber Music Association, Notre Dame, ($25,000); Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, ($50,000); and South Shore Arts, Inc., Munster ($50,000).

The Arts Council of Indianapolis will also receive stimulus funds directly from the NEA. A total of $200,000 will be combined with the IAC’s funds and will be granted to nine organizations within Marion County. The IAC will receive $273,000, all of which will be granted to 15 Indiana arts providers.

In addition to the stimulus grants to the IAC and the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the Endowment will also provide a direct grant of $514,400 to Arts Midwest, a regional arts organization based in Minneapolis that works in collaboration with the IAC. Through a special arrangement, Arts Midwest is partnering with the IAC to provide ARRA funding to selected Indiana organizations. A total of $52,942 will come from Arts Midwest to Indiana organizations.

“We accepted grant applications earlier this summer and received more than 80 applications,” said IAC Executive Director Lewis C. Ricci. “These grants will help preserve jobs critical to maintaining professional arts organizations.”

All total, about $650,000 in federal stimulus funds will be coming to Indiana to preserve jobs in the arts. According to a recent NEA study, more than 19,000 Hoosiers consider the arts as their primary career and source of income.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Airport will receive a $1.45 million Federal Aviation Administration grant under the U.S. economic stimulus package, airport director Betty Stansbury announced Wednesday (May 20).

Purdue University's airport runway.

The grant will be used to improve airport security and assist with wildlife management, Stansbury said.

“This grant will allow us to increase our fence height by 2 feet and to install a skirt along the bottom of the fence to eliminate access by burrowing animals,” Stansbury said. “Wildlife and aircraft don’t mix well. We try to create an environment around the airport where conflicts between birds, animals and aircraft are minimized. This enhances safety for people and protects wildlife.”

The funding, filtered through the FAA, comes from the $787 billion stimulus plan that President Barack Obama signed into law Feb. 17. The FAA received $1.1 billion in additional funding from the package. The funding provided to airports is to be used primarily for safety and capacity enhancements, Stansbury said.

A recommendation from the FAA’s Great Lakes Region regional office led to Purdue’s receiving the grant.

Purdue’s 527-acre airport includes two runways, a system of parallel taxiways, an apron area, and two passenger terminal buildings and hangars. The university’s aviation technology academic program also is housed there. In 2008 the airport had about 102,000 takeoffs and landings.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — State Sen. Brandt Hershman (R-Wheatfield) announced today that Rensselaer qualifies for a $1.5 million federal grant to move forward with wastewater system updates.

Hershman said the grant monies were made available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and he has supported the wastewater improvement projects for several years.

This is one of the state’s first stimulus water projects to be announced.

“These stimulus funds will save residents from having to assume the financial burden and pay higher fees to fund necessary infrastructure improvements,” Hershman said. “This investment in water infrastructure will help not only to serve current residents by improving water quality, but also to prepare Rensselaer for future economic development opportunities.”

Hershman said the recovery act will distribute about $125 million in funds to the Indiana State Revolving Fund, an existing program managed by the Indiana Finance Authority which makes loans to communities for wastewater and drinking water projects.

For more information about the SRF Loan Program, visit the IFA Web site at www.in.gov/srf.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The federal stimulus money invested in Indiana’s natural resources may not only stimulate the economy but also people’s interest in physical activity, says a Purdue University public health expert.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced last week that more than $20 million in federal stimulus money will be used to hire more than 2,000 young adults for the Young Hoosiers Conservation Corps program, which is aimed at improving parks and trails.

Stimulus money will be used to hire more than 2,000 young adults for the Young Hoosiers Conservation Corps program, which is aimed at improving parks and trails like the Charlestown State Park in Southern Indiana.

“There is growing evidence that environmental opportunities are important for encouraging more individuals to engage in healthy, active lifestyles,” says Philip Troped, an assistant professor of health and kinesiology whose research focuses on how neighborhood environments influence physical activity. “Examples of environmental design that can influence physical activity include how we construct our neighborhoods, transportation systems, commercial centers, schools, and recreational facilities, such as parks and trails. Encouraging people, community leaders and policy-makers to think about such factors is a step toward making physical activity more accessible and getting more people to incorporate physical activity in their daily routines.”

For the first time, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published physical activity guidelines for all Americans last fall. The recommendations indicate that adults should get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, and youth should accumulate 60 minutes of activity daily. For adults, this activity should be in bouts of at least 10 minutes.

“The reality is that every person is not going to be able go to the gym five days a week to meet these recommendations, so we need to create safe, accessible neighborhood environments that support routine physical activities, such as walking on sidewalks and on nearby community trails,” Troped says.