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Stephanie Wiechmann
Universities have to make an informed assumption on how many students will attend to properly create a budget.  This year, that became more difficult for colleges across the country, after delays and problems with the national form that students fill out for financial aid, known as the FAFSA. Ball State, like many schools, pushed back by a month the date students confirmed their enrollment, so those students would have financial aid packages in hand first.

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Stephanie Wiechmann
University President Geoffrey Mearns says the school continued to see increases in confirmations during that month.

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Geoffrey Mearns
So our budget assumption is for 3650 freshmen. We actually have now deposits for I think it's 3720. Now we might see some melt over the summer, but we're pretty confident that we're going to hit our budget assumption.

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Stephanie Wiechmann
Mearns says more than 75% of all state students use some form of financial aid to attend. Chief Budget Officer Scott Stachler presented what he called a balanced budget to school trustees for approval. It's an increase of more than $15 million from last year's budget. Stachler says most of that is an increase in salary and benefits for employees. In Muncie. Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR news.