Across-the-board tuition increases are needed during the coming fiscal year for the University of Illinois to meet more than $47 million in new expenses, according to a report presented to the board of trustees last week.
The trustees, who convened in Urbana on Nov. 11, heard a report from Chester Gardner, vice president for academic affairs, who said that the university will be saddled with $47.14 million in additional expenses in FY06. The expenses will include $7.4 million to operate and maintain new facilities, $5 million for utility price increases, and $2 million for debt service on bonds to fund the deferred maintenance program. However, the largest portion of the new expenditures was a proposed $25.84 million salary program for faculty and staff members, which Gardner said must be a priority if the UI wants to remain competitive with its peers and retain and attract top quality faculty members.
If the UI’s state appropriations are cut next fiscal year, administrators may be forced to reduce the faculty salary increases slightly, Gardner said, “but we are going to recommend a salary program,” and he strongly urged the board to consider making cuts in other areas first before reducing or eliminating the salary increases.
The proposal also called for $3 million in recurring funds beginning next fiscal year to upgrade and maintain the UI Integrate system, which will include modifying the HR module to make it more user friendly and less difficult for staff to learn, Gardner said.
Between FY90 and FY05, the UI lost about $100 million because its state appropriations and undergraduate tuition revenue did not keep pace with the rate of inflation, and educational quality is at risk because student-faculty ratios have increased more than 30 percent over the past two decades, Gardner said.
Tuition increases are being proposed at all three campuses for AY06. At Urbana, undergraduate non-guaranteed tuition would increase $210, to $3,217 per semester; the undergraduate guaranteed rate would rise by $291, to $3,521, and graduate students would pay $234 more, or $3,580 per semester.
At Chicago, the undergraduate non-guaranteed tuition rate would increase $185, to $2,830 per semester; the undergraduate guaranteed rate would go up $256, to $3,097; and graduate tuition would increase by $214, to $3,264 per semester.
Trustee Frances Carroll, who expressed concern about the university’s decreased minority enrollment this semester, asked her colleagues to be mindful that the proposed tuition increases might make the UI unaffordable for some students and said that the university should explore other potential revenue streams.
Stukel responded that the most needy students – about 30 percent of the student body at UIC, 20 percent at Urbana and 35 percent at UIS – pay no tuition and fees, and that tuition increases would not affect them, as would increases in housing rates, Stukel said.
Stephen Rugg, vice president for administration, told the board that “an extraordinary amount of student consultation” went into the proposed tuition rates, and about two-thirds of the operations and maintenance costs for new facilities were related to the new recreation facilities being opened at the three campuses, projects that were supported by student referenda.
In other business, the trustees appointed B. Joseph White the university’s 16th president, effective Feb. 1, 2005, the date when current President James J. Stukel will retire. White, a former faculty member and dean of the business school at the University of Michigan, also served as Michigan’s interim president during 2002. He has also been an independent director or trustee of several major companies.
The trustees honored Stukel for his 43 years of service to the university and appointed him president emeritus and professor emeritus in the colleges of engineering at Chicago and Urbana. In addition, the trustees designated that student residence halls planned for construction at UIC be named the James J. Stukel Towers in his honor.
Chairman Lawrence Eppley expressed the board’s gratitude to the 19 members of the consultative committee, to board secretary Michele Thompson and the search firm Baker-Parker for their assistance in selecting a new president.
Relative to several contracts awarded at the meeting, Carroll asked how many of the companies involved were minority owned because constituents are greatly concerned that minority-owned businesses are not being adequately represented in the university’s transactions. Naranjan Shah, chair of the buildings and grounds committee, and Lyle Wachtel, associate vice president for facilities planning and programs, said that the contracts were awarded to the lowest bidders through sealed bids but that they would provide Carroll with the information they had.
Joseph Flaherty, whose appointment as dean of the College of Medicine was approved at the meeting; Hugh Rose, chief financial officer, and John DeNardo, executive director, of UI Medical Center at Chicago, reported on the financial challenges faced by the medical center and received board approval to conduct a feasibility study on a five-year, $326 million plan for renovating the medical center and revitalizing its business. The plan projected that these strategic investments, among others, would increase operating income from $7.3 million in FY04 to more than $17 million by FY09. Staff will return to the board for approval of the plan in January 2005.
Plans are also under way to expand the Research Park at Urbana. The trustees designated that the development zone for the Research Park be modified to encompass the land directly east of the park and bounded by St. Mary’s Road on the north, Fourth Street extended on the east, Windsor Road on the south and First Street on the west. Staff members expect to present an updated Campus Master Plan to the trustees by July 2005.
The trustees also approved:
- A $12.7 million expansion plan for the Natural History Survey at Urbana, to be funded by $6.1 million in state appropriations and $6.6 million of institutional funds from the Urbana campus operating budget.
- An expenditure not to exceed $200,000 for the preliminary design of a new airport control tower for Willard Airport, Savoy, contingent upon receiving Federal Aviation Administration funding for the project, which is expected to cost $12.9 million.
- Site and design for a practice and training facility for the men’s and women’s golf teams at Urbana. The Demirjian Indoor Golf Facility, to be built at the corner of South Wright Street and St. Mary’s Road, Champaign, will include six hitting bays, two with video systems; an interior chipping, pitching and green area; locker rooms; and a kitchen, lounge and exterior terrace for social functions. Total project costs for the 15,500-square-foot facility were estimated at $3.2 million.
- Approved designs for the Gerald R. & Jean Forsythe Memorial Dining Hall, a 14,000-square-foot facility to be built at 4-H Memorial Camp adjacent to Robert Allerton Park, Monticello. The project is being funded with donations from Gerald Forsythe of Marshall, Ill., who has expressed interest in constructing other amenities at the camp.
- Site and design for the South Campus Mixed Use Development project at UIC, which is to be constructed by December 2007. The complex includes a 754-bed residence hall, a 3,000-seat convocation center, kitchen and dining facilities, an event center, classroom spaces and more than 18,000 square feet of retail space. The board also approved site and design for construction of a $56.7 million Advanced Chemical Technology Building at UIC.
- A $102 million plan for refurbishing building enclosures universitywide, part of the backlog of deferred maintenance projects identified in the May 2003 facilities audit report. The board authorized the issuance of up to $55 million in certificates of participation to fund the repairs.