UI Trustees Tuition Vote Will Come in January

University of Illinois Trustees are expected to approve tuition rates in January.

Chief Financial Officer Walter Knorr told a Trustees committee Monday that passing it earlier gives families time to plan financially. Just as last year, he says amount of any tuition increase is pegged to keep up with inflation.

In prior years, the state's fiscal crisis has forced the U of I to wait as late as June before setting rates. U of I President Michael Hogan says there are other advantages to passing them earlier.

"We can't really get our financial aid packages together, and it's costing us real opportunities to recruit students," he said. "They're waiting so long, they're taking other offers and so on, so I'm very happy about being able to move that up."

Knorr says the state still owes the U of I a total of $357-million, including $139-million from fiscal 2011. But he says the trend of the state being 6 to 7 months in payments behind is stabilizing.

Meanwhile, Hogan says he hopes to see the university set aside more tuition for financial aid. He says most Big Ten universities reserve close to 17-percent for that use, and wants to do a study of where the U of I falls in with other peer institutions. But Hogan wouldn't commit to a specific figure.