NIU students should applaud the President’s Fee Study Committee, NIU President John La Tourette and the Board of Regents for keeping student fees down next year.

The committee came up with a fee package for the 1992-93 school year which, if one includes the health insurance fee, actually decreases student fees.

The standard activity fee is the only mandatory fee which is increasing next year. All other mandatory fees such as athletics, health service and bond revenue will remain the same. Although the bids are still out, the health insurance rate might actually decrease.

In addition, it appears La Tourette chose not to change the committee’s deadlocked decision on raising the student athletic fee. The result is that La Tourette kept his promise to decrease the athletic department’s dependence on student money.

The fee package comes as a pleasant surprise for students, who will likely be facing a double-digit tuition increase next year.

Let’s hope the trend continues next year. The Regents gave NIU the green light to refinance its bond structure. Instead of erecting an unwanted structure like the Campus Life Building, the money should be used to give students a fee break.

The state doesn’t look like it will be bending over backwards to give higher education more money anytime soon. So, tuition hikes will be the only way to get new funds flowing into the system. If fees were decreased, the burden placed on students’ backs would be eased.