Student leaders plan to urge the state legislature to approve a tax increase with a second Day of Action and their own “State of the State” address.

Although the Illinois Board of Higher Education approved a $1.8 billion dollar budget for higher education, it will not be funded without a tax increase, IBHE Executive Director Richard Wagner said.

Brian Hopkins, Sangamon State University student regent, said student leaders are planning a “State of the State” message for February, which will express student concerns about higher education in Illinois.

“We will continue to lobby the legislature. We are going to make our voice heard in Springfield and we are not going to tolerate further cuts in general revenue funds or tuition increases,” Hopkins said.

Students are concerned with the overall budgetary effects on Illinois universities, especially NIU and Illinois State University, Hopkins said. These concerns include the “drastic” cut-backs on transfer admissions, cut-backs on services and programs, overcrowded classroom conditions, outdated or shortages of lab equipment, and “frustrated” faculty members.

“Students do not want to take a class with a professor who is unhappy with his salary,” Hopkins said.

In addition, students are planning a second Day of Action for sometime in April, Hopkins said. “It (Day of Action II) will be similar to the first Day of Action. We are looking for a large number of people to come down to Springfield,” he said.

On the first Day of Action, Oct. 21, students protested in Springfield and on Illinois campuses against budget cuts of $53 million. At NIU, students protested this spring’s $150 tuition increase.

Hopkins also said the Illinois Student Association is preparing to develop a state mandate tuition formula which would call for a five-year tuition freeze. He said the ISA is working with New York State’s Student Association, which was successful in having a tuition freeze passed in New York.

In addition to urging the governor and the Illinois General Assembly to approve a tax increase, the ISA plans to ask the legislature to roll back tuition for Fiscal Year 1989, ISA President David Starrett said.

Although the IBHE recommendations do not call for additional tuition increases for FY89, student leaders are concerned about possible increases in the future.

“The question of education is not just one of quality, but one of access. Tuition, to me anyway, is the ultimate test of access,” NIU Student Regent Nick Valadez said.

Hopkins said when the $150 tuition increase was passed, the Board of Regents said there would not be additional increases. “We are going to hold them to that,” he said. “As a student regent, I oppose any student tuition increases.”