UI Watches and Waits Before Determining Next Year’s Tuition

University of Illinois students find themselves with a black hole in their budgeting plans for the year ahead - their tuition bills.

U of I officials are in the same situation, waiting for outside factors before determining how much money they have to raise from tuition and room and board in the next school year. Chief financial officer Walter Knorr says the first indication comes next Wednesday in Governor Pat Quinn's budget address.

"That will give us our first indication of where we are," said Knorr. "To some degree that starts the thinking of...what's in the realm of possibility as far as tuition. But before you firm that up, you have to go through the whole legislative process this spring and see if that's actually what comes out at the end of the session."

However, Knorr says the U of I is attempting to set tuition and fees at the next Board of Trustees meeting in May. They may be set even before the state budget is finalized - the university has waited as late as June to set tuition because of dragged-out budget negotiations in Springfield. Other public universities are waiting for word from the state before announcing their tuition rates too.