Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting saw an approval of the, on average, 9.5 percent tuition increase for the 2009 fiscal year.

The increase will affect incoming freshmen and transfer students for the 2009 fiscal year, and will mean an average increase of $285 per semester. The increase was approved after the Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee meeting on June 5.

Under the Truth-in-Tuition (TnT) law, undergraduate students are guaranteed the same tuition rates for four continuous years.

Also announced at Thursday’s BOT meeting was that the Forward, Together Forward Scholarship fund has reached $500,000.

The Forward, Together Forward fund, created after the Feb. 14 shootings, has received money from nearly 1,500 donors, according to Mallory Simpson, president of the NIU Foundation. Scholarships will be awarded to five recipients to be announced Feb. 14, 2009.

“Recipients will be selected by a scholarship committee established by Provost Ray Alden,” Simpson said. “We anticipate the awards being in $4,000 range.

“We expect donors will continue contributing to the fund, especially as anniversaries approach,” Simpson added.

The award money could help incoming freshmen offset the cost of the tuition increase, which the board approved at the meeting.

Absent from the meeting was the Illinois College Security Task Force, which had a presentation on the meeting agenda, but cancelled last-minute to address the flooding concerns in the state.

The task force is scheduled to give their presentation at the next BOT meeting, Sept. 18.