Starting next fall, all NIU students will have to pay a higher rate of tuition.

At its Friday meeting, the NIU Board of Trustees unanimously approved a tuition hike of 7.75 percent for continuing students and 15 percent for incoming freshmen and transfer students. Because of the Illinois Truth in Tuition Act, new NIU students will be locked into the same rates for four and a half years.

The fiscal year 2005 budget has yet to be finalized, even though university budget hearings concluded in Springfield last week, NIU President John Peters said.

Peters also told the BOT he expects to see at least a 2 percent budget reduction in FY2005.

“It remains grim and uncertain,” Peters said. “We should be adding tenure-tracked faculty, and we are not replacing equipment and fixing infrastructure. But we will have to cut deeply again. We have no choice.”

The tuition increase was the only item on the agenda; no other reports were given. After the meeting, Peters commented on the pending changes in the faculty health care plan.

“I want to understand the rationale for this decision,” Peters said. “I am very concerned about this.”

The BOT will hold its next meeting at 9 a.m. June 17 at the Holmes Student Center’s Clara Sperling Skyroom.