NIU students might face a tuition increase of more than $200 for the 1987-88 school year if a 4 percent statewide tuition increase is rejected by the Illinois General Assembly.

The Board of Regents today will vote on a motion to send parents some form of communication before Gov. James Thompson’s budget is voted on. The Regents hope the communication will garner parents’ support for the 4 percent hike which would increase Regency schools’ tuition about $50 annually.

egents member Milton McClure said the communication would not be enough. He said the Regents should recommend a 20 percent ceiling be put on the tuition hike, in case the governor’s recommendation is rejected.

“We can’t get quality education to the students who need it in the state …. We’re not going to keep it (quality) if we don’t pay our faculty what they deserve,” McClure said.

egents Chancellor Roderick Groves said, “I made the recommendation (for the 4 percent increase) not because I wasn’t concerned about the situation, but rather, because higher education is standing together.

“We have a campaign that we have to pull together if we’re going to make it (an increase) stick. Everyone has to pull together or we’re going to be in trouble,” Groves said.

When Student Regent Dave Agazzi questioned why students were being penalized for the legislature’s mistakes, McClure responded, “Because the faculty has been penalized for 15 years and the students have gotten away without a tuition increase.”

Families of students at Illinois State University in Normal and Sangamon State University in Springfield also might be informed of the possible increase.

NIU President John LaTourette said, since Regency schools have had the lowest costs to students in the state, they will be the hardest hit.

“We have an extremely cost efficient system which will be damaged by the kind of doomsday budget that the governor’s office is talking about,” LaTourette said.