Illinois public university students have paid more for tuition in the past 10 years than state guidelines permit, according to a report by the state auditor general.

NIU officials agree that the state legislature’s priorities are the reason for the high rate of tuition since 1980.

In a study by NIU President John La Tourette comparing tuition and fees of each year from 1980 to 1990, the figures showed the Illinois General Assembly allocated funds for higher education below the national average.

Since 1980, state tax funds for Illinois public universities increased by 75.5 percent, said NIU Associate Provost Lou Jean Moyer. The national average for state funds allocated to public universities was 105.9 percent, she said.

The state auditor found tuition and fees at state universities climbed from an average of $828 in 1980 to $2,256 in 1989. If tuition had increased at the rate of inflation, the average would be below $1,500, according to the report.

Moyer said, if Illinois had received state funds at the national average, NIU’s tuition would have increased only 22.9 percent in the past 10 years versus the about 193 percent increase NIU received.

“There was a tremendous absense of state support,” La Tourette said. It takes three dollars of tuition to make up for one dollar of lack of state support, he said.

The auditor’s report said state funding for higher education rose 41.9 percent, while the higher education costs rose 73.3 percent.

“I would hope that we could work together as a faculty, administration and as a group of students, and with other institutions across the state,” he said.

“The legislators seem to bow to their constituents,” Moyer said.

Illinois was 49th in the nation in terms of increased state support for public universities, last year, the state was 42nd but with the funding given this year, Illinois will go back to being at the bottom again, La Tourette said.