Recommendations made by the Board of Regent’s Finance and Facilities Committee might mean NIU students will have to pay another $181.08 on top of an already approved increase when they return to NIU next year.

A room and board fee increase of $160 and a mandatory fee increase of $21.08 will go to today’s Regents meeting with the approval of the Finance and Facilities Committee.

The proposed fees were met with much debate by the committee members.

Committee Chair Carl Kasten said, “The thing about these fee requests that I’m concerned about, as I assume are the students, is the trend of fee increases down the road.”

Regents Chair Brewster Parker said, “It seems it was too much of an increase too quickly.”

Regents Vice Chair Milton McClure agreed.

“This whole board is now and has always been greatly concerned with the students’ cost,” he said. “This is public education.”

Student Regent John Butler spoke about the room and board increase, which is the result of an unexpected decline in enrollment for NIU and the inability of NIU’s Housing Services to fill all available spaces in the residence halls.

“I think the students would generally regret to have this go through,” he said. “I would really suggest we look into the possibility of closing down one of the residence halls and to do it soon.”

However, Butler’s stance on the room and board increases was short-lived. Instead, he spent what he estimated to be “fifteen minutes” arguing over a refundable $2.88 annual student fee intended to support equipment updating and facility rent for The Northern Star.

“We’ll be walking all over our dual governance system because the students said “no” (to the fee),” he said referring to five student representatives on the President’s Fee study committee who voted to end student fee support of the Star. Four of the students were Student Association executives.

Butler disputed the right of La Tourette to include the fee. He said the fee would be paying rent for the Campus Life Building, which would be breaking a policy set by NIU administration that no student funds would be put toward the building.

He also said a rent hike for the Star would mean another student fee increase to support the building.

NIU President John La Tourette responded to what he called, Butler’s “two erroneous statements.

“We did not promise there would be no fees but that there will be no fee increase. There is no fee increase with this,” La Tourette said. La Tourette said the NIU Career Planning and Placement Office also will pay rent in the building.

“My responsibility, even with the student governments’ position, is to make sure money is put where there is a fiscal need,” La Tourette added. “The fee was initially established for The Northern Star to keep up to date with

equipment.”

Also during the meeting, La Tourette said although NIU’s student fees for athletics were not going to be increased, they could go up 30 to 40 percent in the next three years. It could go up “from $107 to something in the range of $140 or $155.”

La Tourette added, “That’s the worst case scenario. I think it’s important to note that this year ISU is at $133 and they’re going to $151, and we are at $107 and staying at $107.”