NIU students will pay higher student fees next year if a proposed increase is passed by the Board of Regents later this week.

The Regents also will vote on an NIU room-and-board increase for next year, which could have residence hall students paying significantly more.

The Regents, who oversee the operations of NIU, Illinois State University in Normal and Sangamon State University in Springfield, will meet at ISU Wednesday and Thursday.

NIU President John La Tourette said he is proposing a 2.5 percent increase in student fees for next year.

The increase will translate into a $21.08 increase for NIU undergraduates, he said.

La Tourette said he accepted the recommendations of the President’s Fee Study Committee to increase funding for the Student Association by 12 percent and University Health Services by 10 percent.

A controversial proposal to increase student fee support for athletics by $4.01 per credit hour was withdrawn from the committee’s consideration by NIU Vice President for Finance and Planning Eddie Williams.

La Tourette said he did not consider the athletic increase proposal because it wasn’t part of the committee’s recommendation to him.

The President’s Fee Study Committee meets every year to evaluate proposals made by the various entities that receive student fee support. The committee discusses the proposals, votes on them or makes changes to them and then passes them along to La Tourette.

La Tourette and his staff take the committee’s recommendations and evaluate them before La Tourette makes his student fee recommendations to the Regents.

La Tourette said there is only one difference between his proposal and the one passed by the President’s Fee Study Committee in February.

“The only change I made was that I chose not to delete student funding for The Northern Star,” La Tourette said Friday.

He said he also is recommending an increase in room-and-board fees by $160 for the next academic year.

La Tourette said the NIU increases are less drastic than increases planned by ISU. He said ISU is seeking an $85 increase in student fees and a $250 increase in room and board.

If the $182.08 for the student fee increase and the room and board increase are accepted by the Regents, NIU students living in the residence halls and taking 15 credit hours both semesters will pay at least $479.08 more than students this year.

Furthermore, La Tourette said applications for fall semester enrollment at NIU are down by 12 percent this spring. A drop in new students might create an additional and unexpected financial bind for Student Housing Services, which operates the residence halls.

A tuition hike approved at the last Regents meeting is going to increase the financial burden on students taking 15 credit hours both semesters by $297.