A 40-cent increase in NIU student workers’ wages is projected for this fall, although the increase has yet to be finalized.

NIU President John LaTourette said a 40-cent increase in student wages cannot be finalized until Gov. James Thompson signs NIU’s appropriations bill, which gives authorization to spend funds collected by the state tax increase. He said the bill should be signed within the next 10 days.

LaTourette said student wage increases are under consideration because NIU expects the federal government to increase minimum wages in the near future.

In March, the U.S. House of Representatives approved by a 248-171 vote an incremental minimum wage increase from $3.35 to $4.55 per hour. This would have been the first minimum wage increase since 1981. However, President George Bush vetoed this minimum wage increase.

Student Association President Huda Scheidelman said the minimum wage increase will be approved regardless of what happens in Congress.

Another reason for raising student wages is to be competitive with off-campus jobs, LaTourette said, adding that he would rather have students working on campus than working in their home towns.

Eddie Williams, NIU vice president for finance and planning, said it is premature to determine the effect on each NIU department that did not budget for the student wage increase. “If the wage increase goes through, everyone is subject to providing the wage increase,” he said.

In February, the Job Classification and Wage Rate Committee recommended a student wage increase of 75 cents per hour, raising wages to $4.10 per hour.

Other Illinois universities already have planned for the expected wage increase.

Eastern Illinois University in Macomb recently has increased student minimum wages. Barbara Sullivan, EIU director for student employment, said that as of July 1, university student workers’ wages were increased 50 cents, bringing them to $3.85 per hour.

She said the student wage increase will remain despite what happens on the state or federal level, unless the state or federal government raises the minimum wage higher than $3.85 per hour.

EIU increased students’ wages “to keep more students working on campus,” Sullivan said. “There has been a low minimum wage (at EIU) for a long time,” she said. An increase has not occurred at their campus for about eight years, she said.

The student wage increase was anticipated, so departments accounted for the higher salaries when they budgeted for fiscal year 1990.

The University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana also increased salaries by 40 cents per hour, bringing student workers’ wages to $3.75 per hour. Students at U of I will start to see an increase in pay Aug. 21.