It will cost University of Illinois Springfield students more to attend college next year, with most of the increase in housing costs and student fees.
University of Illinois trustees voted unanimously in Chicago Thursday to raise tuition for in-state students starting school at UIS this fall by 1.7 percent, to $9,247.50 per year. That is the smallest increase since 2001-02.
Housing costs will increase at differing rates for various UIS housing options, but the hikes range from 2.9 percent to 4.2 percent in the residence halls to 9.1 percent for some newly renovated campus apartments. The cost of a double-occupancy room in Lincoln Residence Hall with a full meal plan will increase 4.9 percent, or $480, to $10,350 per year.
The increase is an average 3.5 percent as room rates are standardized for the first time for both Lincoln and Founders residence halls.
Increases in housing expenses are higher at UIS than at the Champaign-Urbana or Chicago campuses because the residence halls are still paying off debt and the meal rates haven’t been changed in two years. Significant improvements have been made beginning in 2010 to the apartment flats on the east side of the UIS campus.
Fees will go up at UIS by 6.1 percent, or $110, to $1,892 per year. That’s largely due to a student-authorized increase in a library technology charge that helps pay for such things as online journals, servers and Internet access. Fees also continue to pay for The Recreation and Athletic Center, a $16.2 million project that opened in 2007.
Student fees pay for services such as campus recreation, library and information technology, health services and others.
“This modest tuition increase, along with our continued careful fiscal management, will help to insure that the exceptional and personalized educational experience that we provide at UIS will remain accessible to students regardless of their financial circumstances,” UIS Chancellor Susan Koch said in an emailed statement.
The story was reported on January 25, 2013 in the State Journal-Register.
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