NIU’s student fees are comparable to those charged by colleges and universities across the state.

NIU undergraduate students are required to pay a fee of $52.53 per semester credit hour, adding up to a student fee charge of $630.36 per semester for a full-time student with 12 hours.

Full-time Eastern Illinois University students pay $674.15, while full-time Western Illinois University students pay the lowest student fee charge of $432.96 per semester. The highest fee charge in Illinois is at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, at $743 per semester.

Private schools tend to charge lower fee rates than state universities. The University of St. Francis in Joliet charges less than $200 a semester in student fees for a full-time student. North Central College student fees are about $400 a year for undergraduates with eight to 12 credit hours.

However, what student fees are used for varies with the school. NIU’s student fees go toward student activities, athletics, busing, grants-in-aid, health services and revenue bonds. Other fees not included in the $630.36 charge are the student-to-student grant, student health insurance and the technology surcharge.

The student-to-student grant is $4.50 and applies only to those students with more than 12 credit hours. It is refundable by request. Student health insurance is $213.50 for students with nine or more credit hours, and it is refundable if the student can show proof of better or equal insurance coverage.

The technology surcharge of $100 per semester started this fall and is charged to students with seven or more credit hours. Students with six credit hours or less are charged $50.

“The technology surcharge is to improve technology services, upgrade public computer labs and our student information system,” said NIU Student Trustee Kevin Miller.

Although U of I’s student fees are higher than NIU’s, they have more refund opportunities, such as their Student Organization Resource Fee (SORF), cultural programming fee and Krannert fee, said Brian Colgan, vice chair of U of I’s Illinois Student Government Appropriations Committee. Krannert is the university’s center for the performing arts.

“These fees are refundable to the students, but they do go toward bettering student life,” Colgan said.

In addition to WIU’s boast of the lowest student fees, the fees remain the same as long as the student graduates within four years.

“Your student fees as a freshman stay frozen when you graduate within four years. Here at Western, our tuition and housing costs also stay frozen,” said Doug Smith, WIU Student Government Association’s speaker of the senate. “But, for incoming students, fees go up every year.”

All four state universities have a slight increase in student fees every year that are decided by their boards of trustees. However, student involvement on fee decisions varies with each school.

“At U of I, our student government doesn’t directly control fees,” Colgan said.

U of I’s student government can propose a student fee in a referendum that the students then vote on it, but U of I’s Board of Trustees makes the final decision, Colgan said.

At NIU, students have less input on student fees.

“The Student Association supports new fees, but does not create them,” Miller said.

Referenda do not have to occur for a fee to be proposed at NIU. NIU President John Peters passes recommendations that he feels are necessary to the Board of Trustee, Miller said. From there, the Board of Trustees has the final say on increases, decreases and any additional fees.