The SIU Board of Trustees will consider a proposal next week that could increase tuition rates by 9.9 percent, university spokesman Rod Sievers confirmed Tuesday.
Under the proposal, an incoming freshman would pay $3,832.50 per semester, up $345 from last year’s freshmen class rate.
“Technically it’s an increase in tuition,” Sievers said. “But tuition for all other students (excluding incoming freshmen) will stay the same.”
State law requires a student’s tuition be locked for four years, meaning only new students would pay the hiked rate.
The board will hear the proposal during its April 2 meeting and will vote on the increase during its May 7 meeting.
The board will also discuss raising student fees. According to the board’s Web site, student fees would increase by $141 per semester to $1,560.
Sievers said he expects the tuition increase to drop — somewhere around the 4.5 percent range, he said — before it is proposed.
“It’s a complicated process, but I don’t think it was necessary to go that high,” Sievers said. “They have to figure out what enrollment is going to be, how much state appropriations are going to be given. They are looking to change that with an eye on dropping that number.”
The rate SIUC administrators end up proposing, he said, depends on the state’s budget and how much money the university is allocated. Sievers said he expects to know more later this week. Gov. Pat Quinn released a budget proposal last week that would give the university $236 million from the state, roughly $2.3 million more than SIU received last year.
Tuition has increased every year since 1995 and has increased for first-year students every year since 2004, according to university records. Last year, incoming freshmen also faced a 9.9 percent spike. The year before, incoming students faced a 9.3 percent increase.
The board’s SIUC student trustee Nate Brown, who was chosen in a special election March 5, said after his election that tuition and fee increases would likely be inevitable.
Brown, a second-year law student from Chester, said Tuesday that his job as student trustee would be more about informing students than making tough decisions.
“A lot of my job is information-gathering,” Brown said. “If we can get out and talk to students and say this is how much they want to raise our tuition and fees by and this is what they are going to do with it, it will give people a better understanding of what problems the university is confronting and, in some sense, hope they come to the conclusion that they have to take action.”
Brown said he plans on meeting with Chancellor Sam Goldman Friday to discuss exactly where the money from tuition and fees would be spent.
Brown said nobody enjoys raising tuition or fees.
“It’s not as if the university has this big pot of money and you just keep putting in and we can just take that money out and move books from the library or provide scholarships,” he said. “Everything neatly fits into a certain budget.
“Every tuition dollar is spoken for, though.”
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Thanks for the props, but there's really not that much hope for me. Do a lot of our tax dollars get wasted? Abso-freakin-lutely. Does the managers at AIG getting bonuses while (to quote singer John Rich) they're "shuttin' Detroit down" piss me off? Absolutely. But I support the stimulus package, just like I support spending initatives at SIU provided that they serve a purpose.
But I've managed businesses, and I know -- like anyone with common sense -- that you'll fail if you spend more than you make. SIUC needs to cut a few administrator positions, fund Saluki Way AND our library, cut or lock fees and actively recruit new students.
1) It will increase attendance.
2) It will bring millions of dollars in extra sales to the community.
3) It will create more jobs as the employers will become so impressed with SIUC, they will begin hiring SIUC students when they normally would not give them a second look.
Saluki way HAD to happen. The Stadium was crumbling.... litterally.
So other buildings are in bad shape too.
Somebody was going to have to pay for it... better the local community and the students than people in Utah and the rest of the state that have nothing to do with SIU.
So Improving, you are claiming at because SIUC has a new football stadium, it is going to help get SIUC grads jobs, are you saying that because Glenn told you to or do you have any empirical data to back up your argument?
I'm shocked. You're comment sounds.... conservative in nature. If I get this straight you're talking about a cause and effect market based solution to SIU's problems. Replace the word "tuition" with "taxes" and the word "SIU" with "our governement" and I think you've got it nailed.
Ron there is still hope for you after all.
The bottom line is this: if students are sick of paying more fees and more tuition, we need to do something about it. Call the board of trustees at 618-536-3357 and let them know how increasing fees are impacting you.
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