PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 22, No. 1, July 5, 2002

Tuition increase approved in special meeting

By Sabryna Cornish, UIC News Bureau

In the face of drastic cuts in state funding, the UI Board of Trustees passed a tuition increase June 27 that will add about $100 per semester for current undergraduate students.

Undergraduates enrolling for the first time this fall will pay the $100 increase and a special $500 per semester surcharge that had been approved by the board in early 2001.

"The magnitude of this budget problem requires that our students and families help us through this difficult time," UI President James J. Stukel said at a special board meeting in the Chicago Illini Union.

Budget cuts brought on by the national economic slump, as well as unavoidable costs, created an $89 million gap in the university's total operating budget for next fiscal year, which began July 1. That represents about 9 percent of the university's state- and tuition-supported budget.

The general tuition increase will generate about $17 million in net revenue. Twenty-five cents of each new tuition dollar raised will be allocated for student financial aid.

At Urbana-Champaign, returning full-time, undergraduate students will pay $2,151 in tuition per semester. New students will pay $2,651 per semester.

Returning undergraduate UIC students will pay $1,832 per semester. New students will pay $2,332 per semester. Out-of-state, graduate and professional students will pay higher rates, as will students in select programs such as the master's of business administration in Urbana-Champaign and Chicago. The board vote was 8-1 in favor of the tuition increase, with chairman Gerald Shea opposed.

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