U Of I Trustees Freeze In-State Tuition For Second Straight Year

University of Illinois Trustees have unanimously approved freezing tuition rates for the second straight year for in-state freshman.  Tuition and fees will go up by less than 0.1 percent on the Urbana campus, and remain flat in Springfield and Chicago.  Room and board rates will increase by $300 or less on all three campuses.

Trustees approved tuition rates even as they learned the school has covered $671 million in expenses because of the lack of a state budget.

Mandatory fees will remain at current levels, with the exception of a $4 annual increase on the Urbana campus for transportation services that were approved in a student referendum.

Opening Thursday's U of I Board of Trustees meeting in Chicago, President Timothy Killeen said the university's focus is to provide access to education despite the state budget standoff.

“Amid ongoing declines in state support, and a lingering budget impasse that has shut off funding complete for seven months and counting, those challenges will not derail us," he said.  "As today’s tuition and fee proposals illustrate, we will continue to act aggressively, pro-actively, and responsibly to serve our students and the public good.”

Tuition for in-state students will remain at $12,036 a year in Urbana-Champaign, $10,584 in Chicago and $9,405 in Springfield. Freshmen pay the same tuition for four years.

U of I Trustees have also signed off on a revised background check policy for new university hires. Faculty senates on each campus had raised concerns over criminal background checks for those who have paid their debt to society, which they said could disproportionately impact minorities.

Trustees also approved a 2-year contract extension for U of I football coach Bill Cubit, paying him $1.2 million a year for two years. The deal would pay him a prorated amount of his salary if he is fired without cause. The minimum would be $250,000.
 
Cubit's pay is the lowest in the Big Ten. Ohio State's Urban Meyer is the highest-paid football coach in the conference at $5.8 million.

U of I Trustee Ed McMillan was re-elected to a second one-year term as board chairman.