The Illinois Board of Higher Education will vote today on a tuition guidelines policy for Illinois public colleges which the Board of Regents plan to vote down.

The Regents made the decision to vote against the policy last week on the recommendation of NIU President John LaTourette.

The IBHE meets today in Chicago at 9 a.m.

The proposed policy states that tuition rates “should approximate a one-third share of instructional costs in a university system, recognizing that short-term deviation from this proportion may be necessary.”

LaTourette said there should not be a policy limiting tuition to one-third of the instructional costs unless the state provides additional funding.

The current policy, established in 1979, states, “undergraduate tuition rates for Illinois residents should not exceed one-third of instructional cost.”

LaTourette said the IBHE should recommend that the state fund at least two-thirds of the cost of instruction. Regents should not endorse a policy unless those criteria are addressed, he said.

At last weeks’ Regents meeting, Illinois State University President Tom Wallace said policies have to be looked at in terms of funding. He said state tax support for education is “falling to the bottom.”

Regent Jerome Bender said the Regents should explain the reasoning of the “no” vote to the Illinois House of Representatives and the Senate.

The proposed policy also states that “no new mandatory fee charged to all students should be initiated for purposes of financing instructional activities. New fees for noninstructional purposes should require student referenda.”

At the Oct. 5 IBHE meeting, members from about seven Illinois universities gave their statements regarding a statewide tuition guidelines policy.

Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves presented a tuition abatement plan which would decrease universities’ reliance on tuition as a primary source of revenue.

Groves said the state’s support for higher education funding historically has been low. He said the choices for the public universities are to either sharply reduce the availability of education or turn to students for funding to keep the “doors open.”

“Our response to this has been to reluctantly raise tuition,” Groves said.

Today, the IBHE also will discuss fiscal year 1990 budget requests for operations, grants and capital improvements.