SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -A bold move under consideration by Southern Illinois University's Board of Trustees would tie nearly all future cost increases for fees, room-and-board and undergraduate tuition to the Consumer Price Index.
If approved next month, SIU would be the first university in Illinois and one of only a handful of schools across the country to link its cost increases to the index-the most widely accepted index for anticipated cost increases.
The Consumer Price Index, released monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, tracks changes in retail prices of a constant collection of goods and services.
SIU President Ted Sanders says the plan, if adopted, would be implemented completely by fall semester 1999 on both the Carbondale and Edwardsville campuses. Speaking at the SIU Board's regular monthly meeting in Springfield Thursday, May 8, Sanders said the proposal is intended to address the public's general concern about rapidly rising tuition costs.
"We believe that we do have a responsibility to help students and their families plan for college costs," Sanders said. "We also believe that our Board of Trustees should thoughtfully set our tuition and fee policies-not the General Assembly."
SIU's plan covers tuition, fees and room-and-board because most families have to consider the total cost of higher education, not tuition alone.
David Merkowitz, a spokesperson for the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., said to his knowledge the practice is rare. "I believe Michigan State University strongly considers the CPI in combination with state funding levels," he said. "That's the only school that immediately comes to mind."
Under SIU's plan, increases in undergraduate tuition would be limited to respective increases in the CPI beginning fall semester 1998. By fall 1999, increases in undergraduate tuition, fees and room-and-board as a whole could go up no more than the index. The move would make both SIU campuses revisit projections for future years that would likely exceed the limit.
The Board may develop firm criteria to allow for limited exceptions. Examples of exceptions which could cause a deviation from the CPI limit might be high cost, high demand programs, or pressing technology or infrastructure needs.
Figures in the proposal show SIUC undergraduate students who live on campus would pay $7,597.80 to attend full time for the academic year beginning fall semester 1998-up 3.5 percent from the previous year.
At SIUE, total college costs for the same academic year for most undergraduates living on campus would be $6,730.40-up 3 percent from the previous year.
In 1995, SIU was the first public university in the state to adopt a four-year tuition and fee plan. It has established firm figures for the first fiscal year in the plan and projected figures for the remaining years of a typical undergraduate's career. If the current proposal is adopted next month, SIU would be the first state university to set firm figures for the first two years at a time with projections for the following two years.
Sanders says the 2-plus-2 approach would give families even better guides to planning while building in flexibility to accommodate changes in the economy.
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