Longtime employees of Illinois state universities might have the added benefit of cheaper education for their children.

Senate Bill 1353 allows students whose parents work for state-supported universities and colleges to waive 50 percent of their tuition.

The bill, which has passed both houses and is on its way to Gov. Jim Edgar, allows the waiver to go to children of those employed full-time for at least seven years.

The Board of Regents, which governs NIU, Sangamon State University in Springfield and Illinois State University in Normal, has offered a 50 percent tuition waiver to its employees’ children since May 1986, said J. Carroll Moody, president of the Faculty Senate.

“It really doesn’t change anything,” he said. “It extends what has been a Regency system policy.”

“In a sense, the Regency system has been a pioneer,” he said.

Up until the bill passed, only the Board of Regents system offered a 50 percent tuition waiver. The policy only differs from the new bill in that the maximum age is extended from under 23 to under 25.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education allows tuition waivers to be granted for various reasons, providing the total value of all the waivers does not exceed 3 percent of the school’s total income from tuition.

However, the waivers granted to employees’ children will be administered separately from the 3 percent waivers allowed by the IBHE.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Joyce Holmberg, (D-Rockford), who sponsored the bill.

The bill was touted by state employee groups as a way to keep the best and the brightest working in Illinois at state-supported colleges and universities.

“One of the places that Illinois rates low is in the area of benefits,” said Holmberg.

“This is a very sincere attempt to bring balance into that package,” she said.

To be eligible for the waiver, the child must meet the following eligibility requirements: The parent of the child must have been employed full-time by the university for at least seven years, the child must be under the age of 25 at the beginning of the academic year the waiver is used, and the child must qualify for admission to the university.

The waiver can be renewed until the student has expended four years of benefits.

Students are eligible for the waiver at the universities’ governing system in which the parent works in.