By Patrick Baron
NORMAL – The Illinois State University Board of Trustees approved tuition increases for new students coming to ISU this fall.
The board unanimously approved to raise in-state undergraduate student tuition to $384.13 per credit hour, a 3.75 percent increase from the previous academic year. In-state graduate students coming to ISU will pay $403.59 per credit hour, also a 3.75 percent increase.
For incoming out-of-state undergraduates, their tuition will cost $768.26 per credit hour, a 3.75 percent increase. Out-of-state graduate students will pay $838.30 per credit hour, also a 3.75 percent increase. The tuition raises are locked, meaning students coming to ISU in the fall will pay the same rates through 2022.
Students currently enrolled at ISU will not see a change in the cost of their tuition.
Board members expressed displeasure at having to raise tuition for incoming students, but said a lack of appropriate state funding left them with few choices. Board chairman Rocky Donahue said despite ISU’s successes in student enrollment, retention, and graduation, the state has not provided the amount of funding the school needs.
“Because the state isn’t providing us our fair share, we’re having to use more and more of our own money to offset that financial aid package in order to be competitive with the University of Missouri, the University of Iowa, the University of Wisconsin, who are our competitors and our peers now,” Donahue explained.
Board members also said simply trusting in the state to provide ample funding for the school isn’t going to work anymore. As Donahue explained, board members now plan on reaching out to individual legislators in the hopes of getting the appropriate funding.
“We’ve gone the route of ‘we trust you, we trust you in putting the bill’ and obviously that hasn’t worked in ten years because we don’t have a capital bill,” said Donahue. “Now maybe it’s time to try something different and go back to individual legislators and say ‘are you willing to make this a priority for this university?'”
Board members said with the state funding ISU less and less, the university “must take control of its own destiny,” and not simply wait and see if the state follows through.
The board also approved a total cost increase of 1.9 percent over the previous academic year, and increased mandatory student fees to $82.28 per credit hour, a 0.54 percent increase from the 2017-2018 academic year. The revenue from those fees will help the university fund operational costs.
Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].
