The Board of Regents will not endorse “tuition freeze” Illinois Senate Bill 1507 without receiving Gov. James Thompson’s final fiscal year 1991 budget.

The bill “would legislatively mandate no tuition increases for the 1990-91 academic school year,” Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves said.

A nearly 1 percent temporary state income tax increase has been in effect for FY89 and 90. The tax raises about $700 million per year to be divided equally between education and municipalities, said DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow.

Barbara Hayler, Sangamon State University Joint University Advisory Committee member, said “People supported the temporary tax increase with the understanding that it would help higher education.

“The tax was justified with education needs. The idea that the state of Illinois might then ask parents and students to pay again in the form of a tuition increase is what creates interest in Senate Bill 1507,” Hayler said.

Scott Williams, Illinois State University student regent, said, “A tuition increase would be a slap in the face to students and parents after paying the temporary tax surcharge allegedly to prevent a tuition hike.”

NIU President John La Tourette said although he does not favor a tuition increase, bills such as Senate Bill 1507 “take the legislature off the hook.”

Illinois increased its higher education budget 79.9 percent from FY80 to FY90, whereas the average state’s increase was 105.9 percent, La Tourette said.

Only eight states in the nation have had a smaller increase in their higher education budget from FY80 to FY90, La Tourette said.

“The total necessary tuition increase would have been only 22.9 percent in ten years had Illinois increased education funding as much as the average state. Instead, tuition has risen 192.3 percent,” La Tourette said.

“It is easy for legislators to hide temporarily behind tuition-freeze bills instead of finding long-term funding solutions,” he said.

Tuition increases have been caused by the legislature’s failure to provide adequate funding for higher education, La Tourette said. Illinois is not making higher education a high funding priority, he said.

SSU Student Regent Brian Hopkins said “There is growing support for a tuition freeze in Illinois universities for fiscal year 1991.”

“Students are being asked to pick up the slack for what the legislature doesn’t provide,” Hayler said.