University of Illinois leaders are recommending no increase in tuition for in-state students for the third straight year. If approved by university Trustees at their meeting in Chicago next week, this proposal would mark the 3-campus system’s longest rate freeze in 40 years. Tuition would go up 1.8 percent for graduate students, and out-of-state and international students.

University of Illinois President Timothy Killeen is again pushing a plan for the state to agree to multi-year budget for the school in exchange for controls on tuition increases and other benchmarks. He previously discussed the idea as a way to provide financial stability as the state continues to struggle with its budget crisis. The president will discuss the legislation in Thursday's U of I Trustees meeting.

University of Illinois trustees have approved a contract with football coach Lovie Smith that will pay him at least $21 million over six years. At their meeting Thursday, trustees also signed off on a $100,000 performance bonus for President Tim Killeen. Under his contract, the bonus was the maximum Killeen could have received for reaching performance goals.

Enrollment figures released Thursday show U of I enrollment from a year ago went up 1.2 percent from last fall, enrolling 77,073. That figure is expected to top 81,000 when factoring in online students. Figures in Urbana show the number of new students went up 1.8 percent, including the largest freshman class in campus history, at just under 7,600.

Chris Kennedy’s introduction to the media as a potential candidate for Illinois governor in 2018 got off to a rocky start at the Democratic National Convention. After a speech in which he criticized Governor Bruce Rauner, the former chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees attempted to rush past reporters, and would not answer questions about possibly running for governor himself in 2018.