The Board of Regents is expected to vote on another mid-semester tuition increase of $75 to $200 in its September meeting.

NIU President John LaTourette said in July it is “too early to pin down an exact figure.”

Student Association President Paula Radtke said in her first report to the SA senate July 31 that the Regents want more than the 5.7 percent pay raise for faculty approved by the state legislature. The Regents might raise tuition to cover the additional cost of a pay raise, she told the senate.

There are certain university expenses every year which are unavoidable, LaTourette said. These include employee sick leave, Medicare contributions, maintenance and utilities. All Regent universities (NIU, Illinois State University and Sangamon State University) need to raise revenue, he said.

NIU is incurring $2 to $3 million in these unavoidable costs and must allow for them in planning budget requirements, LaTourette said. “If you want to cover all the bases, we need an increase in tuition of about 20 percent.”

Although the increase cannot take effect until January, LaTourette said the Regents have to do something. “To maintain quality and accomodate students, a tuition increase is unavoidable.”

Support for the tuition increase was nearly unanimous as the Regents adopted a motion to make tuition the focus of its September meeting.

Dan Wagner, ISU student Regent, said he was in favor of a tuition hike but offered an alternative—a tuition surcharge.

“A tuition increase is binding,” Wagner said. Once raised, tuition cannot be brought back down. With a surcharge, however, the increase does not have to be repeated. “You can take it (the increase) off in subsequent semesters.”

LaTourette said a surcharge is “feasible” and “indicates to the legislature that the increase could be rescinded with later funding.”