Responding to parents’ concerns about rising college tuition rates, the Illinois legislature has proposed a bill that will freeze a student’s cost for all four years at in-state public universities.
The bill, which already was passed overwhelmingly in the House, is expected out of the Senate in about a month and a half.
Yet budgetary and financial concerns may stop plans like this from spreading to private universities such as Northwestern, officials said. Over the past five years, NU tuition has increased an average of 4.9 percent each year, said James Elsass, associate vice president for budget.
“We have no control over what our costs could be,” Elsass said. “For such a plan to work, you would have to figure out what you think is going to happen for the next four years.”
The state congressmen who are sponsoring the bill, however, seem to think otherwise.
Rep. Kevin Joyce, D-Chicago, who first proposed the bill in the House, said a tuition cap would be even easier at private universities because they are independently operated.
In the Senate, the main proponent of the bill is Sen. Edward D. Maloney, D-Chicago, who said the bill will assist students and parents planning for college expenses.
“While the expenses are still there, at least you’re going into it with some idea of the costs,” Maloney said.
Both Joyce and Maloney, as well as fellow legislative sponsors have been in contact with the universities throughout the entire process. While many state universities now support the program, they were somewhat hesitant to sign on at first. After working with legislators over the past few months, however, the universities are now willing to try it.
“There is concern everywhere about rising tuition, and this is an effort to respond to that,” said Thomas Hardy, the University of Illinois’ executive director for university relations. “We want to provide more certainty so they (students and parents) know the costs when they enter classes.”
There are a few restrictions on the bill for the tuition to remain frozen. Namely, the student must graduate in four years, which would provide an incentive for students to graduate in a timely manner, Joyce said.
Another exception is that if a student changes to a more expensive major or school within the university, the student would be charged extra tuition. The bill also would apply only to Illinois residents.
While state public university officials seem hopeful, some administrators at NU said this could cause problems for the universities.
“To take one major revenue source and cap it is pretty unrealistic,” said Eugene Sunshine, senior vice president for business and finance.
Elsass said this plan is going to be very difficult for the state universities. Such a plan would be particularly difficult for NU because of university reliance on tuition.
Despite what officials say, some students said they think the program would be beneficial. Weinberg junior Brian Truscott said he used an entire year’s worth of his paycheck to make up for the tuition increases since he entered NU.
Said Truscott, “That’s one less year of income for a student to have before graduation, making it harder to pay back student loans.”
