By HOI ABC
NORMAL – Illinois State University administrators are describing as “modest” their proposal to raise the cost for new students to attend ISU for the next school year.
ISU’s Board of Trustees will consider a proposal Friday to increase the total cost of attending ISU by 3.42%, boosting the total price for full-time undergraduates to $26,335 before factoring in financial aid.
Tuition for new in-state undergrads would increase 2.75% or $394.69 per credit hour for the 2022-23 academic year. The Truth-in-Tuition law guarantees that rate won’t change until the summer of 2026 for those students.
Mandatory student fees would rise 3% to $111.01 per credit hour for undergraduate and graduate students while university housing would climb to 3% for Cardinal Court residents and 4.5% for all other campus housing.
New ISU dorms and dining in planning phase
Also on the board’s agenda is a proposal to spend up to $8 million for architectural and engineering work on a new South Campus residence hall and 700 seat dining hall. They would be located where the now-demolished Atkin-Colby and Hamilton-Whitten dorms and Feeney Dining Center used to be.
In documents presented to the board, administrators said ISU currently has dorm space for 5,800 students, having lost 1,100 beds the last 20 years because of “age, limited functionality, and significant deferred maintenance costs.”
New College of Engineering
ISU’s governing board is being asked to approve spending up to $3 million for pre-construction work that would convert the food service building and physical plant, both on Gregory Street in Normal, into the College of Engineering’s first home. The buildings are meant to accommodate 520 students at a $61 million cost.
The second phase would be construction of a new building nearby with enough space for 1,000 engineering students. The projected cost for that building is about $111.6 million.
Trustees meet Friday at 9 a.m. in the Old Main Room of the Bone Student Center. The meeting is streamed on ISU’s YouTube channel.
