A cooperative admissions policy with Rockford College that was approved by the University Council this spring still awaits final approval or rejection by the office of Provost Kendall Baker.

Rockford College Provost Joel Rodney said Monday the college’s board has endorsed and submitted a co-op admissions proposal and he is awaiting word from Baker on the current status of the proposal, Rodney said.

The co-op admissions proposal made by Rockford College representatives last fall would involve students who are academically eligible to attend NIU and Rockford College, but are not admitted to NIU because of lack of space. The proposal made to the UC this spring stated the first 500 students closest to the cut-off point for admission into NIU would be given the opportunity to attend Rockford College at the same tuition they would pay at NIU.

A spokesman for the NIU Bursar’s Office said spring semester tuition will increase in January to $857 as a result of the $125 surcharge passed in September by the Board of Regents. NIU tuition for the 1988-89 school year will total $1,689. These figures do not include student activity or health insurance fees, the spokesman said.

Tuition at Rockford College this school year is $7,470, said a spokesman for the college’s business office.

Rodney said he does not think the NIU tuition increase will affect the possible co-op because if potential NIU students instead attend Rockford College, then “more people will be eligible for more financial aid at NIU.”

Rodney said that, according to the proposal, students applying to Rockford College would have the option to stay at that school or transfer to NIU after two years, assuming satisfactory academic performance at Rockford College.

NIU’s on-campus enrollment was reduced by 655 students this fall, and this reduction left enrollment at 22,463 students this semester. Rodney said the reduction should not affect NIU’s acceptance or rejection of a Rockford College co-op.

“The whole point (of a possible co-op) is that we don’t want to see Illinois students having to go (to school) out of state,” he said.

UC Executive Secretary Judy Bischoff said when a co-op proposal is finalized, it will be reviewed by Baker, Bischoff, a representative from NIU Legal Counsel and the chairman of the UC’s Academic Policy Committee.

NIU Legal Counsel George Shur said that Norden Gilbert, assistant legal counsel, might be working on the contract with Rockford College.