Students have been put in a jam, with no way out but to let their pockets empty into the jar.

The General Assembly’s apathy toward higher education puts the Board of Regents in financial chains forcing students to be accountable for breaking the links.

Students and the state are the two primary sources for general funds at NIU, Illinois State University at Normal and Sangamon State University at Springfield; and because the state has been lax in the funding department, students must pay.

That is what the most recent resolution by the Regents is saying. Regents recommended to the Illinois Board of Higher Education that tuition be raised next year to compensate for inflation and everything NIU didn’t get this year because there wasn’t enough money.

Also, the resolution could have a saving grace. It stipulates that the Board must have at least made an attempt to find other funding sources before raising tuition.

The resolution also states the tuition increase will depend on what kind of financial straits NIU is in at the time. In other words, whether the General Assembly gives the university any money.

By basing the recommended tuition increase on the states’ assistance to higher education, the Regents are playing it safe—doing what they can while their backs are pinned against the wall.

The simple truth is that students will have to pay until the state decides it needs a well-educated populace.