Undergraduate student fees could increase 5.3 percent under a plan the board of trustees is expected to approve this morning.

The move would mean undergraduate students registered for 12 or more credit hours would pay an extra $59.76 next year. The total cost for student fees would increase to $1,179.20 from $1,119.44.

Graduate students registered for 12 or more credit hours would see an increase of $58.56 per credit hour.

The board also is expected to increase room and board rates.

Room price increases would be different for each residence hall and type of room, but the average increase is expected to be 9.7 percent.

Students living in a Grant Towers double room, for example, would see an increase of $235 per semester for next year, to $2,675 from $2,440. Students living in a Stevenson Towers single room, on the other hand, would see an increase of $333 per semester for next year, to $3,752 from $3,419.

Board rates were not increased last year, but are expected to increase this year. The cost of a Gold dining dollar plan, the minimum a student must have while living in the residence halls, is expected to increase 9 percent, to $960 from $880.

Higher education administrators generally raise student fees and room and board and tuition rates every year.

The cost of getting a Masters of Accountancy degree at NIU also is expected to significantly increase.

If the proposal is passed by the board of trustees, the Masters of Accountancy program would have an extra $275 per credit hour added to student fees, said Faculty Senate President Paul Stoddard.

The proposal would nearly double tuition for students in the program, Stoddard said.

So far, tuition fees have remained constant across all schools, said Nancy Castle, an allied health and communicative disorders professor. If passed, the proposed increase would be the first to change tuition rates between schools.

Clinical fees, off-campus fees and lab fees previously have caused slight differences in tuition cost, but the increase would create a substantial difference in cost, Castle said.

One credit hour in the graduate school costs $226 with about $63 in student fees, according to NIU.

A nine credit hour-semester in the graduate school costs about $2,700 without medical insurance, according to NIU. A nine credit hour-semester in the Masters of Accountancy program would cost more than $5,000 with the proposed increase.

At a March 6 board of trustees committee meeting, NIU President John Peters said the national reputation of the school is important and the school needs to remain competitive, Castle said.

In defense of the increase, students have the potential to make a lot of money after completing the program, so it would be considered a wise financial investment, Stoddard said.