The Board of Trustees voted to raise tuition rates 9.75 percent for students starting at NIU in the 2005-06 school year.

Students enrolled in 15 semester hours will pay $5,061 for the school year, which is an additional $246 per semester.

“Raising tuition is simply needed to keep our academic levels stable, so I voted in favor of the increase,” said Eric Johnson, former student trustee.

Since the state budget provided no new money for higher education this year, the BOT felt raising tuition was its only option.

“We don’t like to raise tuition, but in order to keep the quality of our product up, we have no other choice,” said Barbara Giorgi Vella, vice chair of the BOT.

The variance of increases is based on the Truth-in-Tuition law, which states incoming students are guaranteed the tuition rate quoted their freshman year will stay constant for eight consecutive semesters. This law causes universities to consider average cost increases over that period of time.

“In the matter of raising tuition, I voted present,” BOT member Myron Siegal said. “I will be directly affected by the increase because I have two daughters who go here. It wouldn’t have been right for me to vote otherwise.”

Some other fees also will be raised in the fall for new undergraduate students. These raises include mandatory room and board fees.