INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The Senate Appropriations Committee is examining the state of higher education funding as it continues Indiana’s budget deliberations.
 
  The panel plans to meet Thursday morning to review state aid to colleges and universities. Funding was slashed during and after the recession.
 
  Gov. Mike Pence included a 1 percent increase in higher education spending in his budget in January. The House upped that amount to a 3.5 percent annual spending increase in the budget it approved.
 
  University leaders and lawmakers have sparred in recent years over tuition increases spurred by state budget cuts. Former Gov. Mitch Daniels recently announced he would freeze student tuition at Purdue University, where he now is president.