Students can lower their tuition by opening their mouths Wednesday when their voice in Illinois government lets them protest skyrocketing tuition bills.

The public hearing is the first of many in Illinois designed by the legislature to decide if tuition is rising higher and faster than it should.

The legislature prohibited all public universities in Illinois from increasing tuition until the Joint Committee completes its work. The report is due in January.

“Testimony will be given on the cost of undergraduate education,” said Ginger Rugai, administrative aide to Sen. Jeremiah E. Joyce, D-Chicago.

Anyone can speak at the hearing, she said. “There could be anyone there from administrators to parents and students,” Rugai said. Prior notice to speak is not needed.

Hearing the comments will be the Joint Committee on College Tuition, which was established by the General Assembly.

The panel, made up of five students, four state legislators and five higher education officials, also will take “written testimony,” Rugai said. “If time ran out (for students to speak), we would have the written testimony of students,” Rugai said.

NIU’s Student Association will submit “written testimony to our view of higher education. The question here is will higher education remain affordable,” said SA President Robert McCormack. “There is no better time than Wednesday for students to impart their views.”

NIU student Regent James Mertes said, “It is important that students voice their opinions now.”

Students make up more than one-third of the committee, said David Starrett, executive director of the Illinois Student Association.

“The big problem is lowering tuition from what it already is,” he said.

Illinois Board of Higher Education guidelines state tuition should be approximately one-third of the cost of instruction, according to a report by Robert Cronson, auditor general of Illinois.

However, in Fiscal Year 1989, seven of 12 Illinois public universities exceeded the guideline. The average tuition for all public universities was 41.9 percent of the cost of instruction.

That’s why student and education leaders are again concerned about making public education affordable and not elitist.

But if the hearings go as planned, “the state could recommit to the one-third formula,” Starrett said.

The hearing will be Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center.