Tuition and fee increases top the Board of Trustees agenda for this morning’s meeting.

The board will vote on a proposal to increase tuition about 5 percent per credit hour and a proposed fee increase of $38.20, roughly 5.8 percent.

The student fee increase represents a raise in the campus improvement fee of almost 13 percent and a flat 5 percent increase that will be distributed among nine other campus fees.

The campus improvement fee increase has already been approved by both the BOT and the Student Senate. When the increase is implemented, the fee would go up $9, from $59 to $68. The remaining $29.20 of the proposed $38.20, which has yet to be approved by the BOT, would be distributed to various areas based on need.

The activity fee, athletic fee, health service and pharmacy fee, recreation center fee, union/bond revenue fee, computer technology fee, grant-in-aid fee, textbook rental fee and the health and accident insurance fee would all compete for funds under the proposed plan.

The plan represents a 5 percent increase, lower than the 9.2 percent average of the previous five years. Under the plan, each of the nine fee areas would have the opportunity to make presentations to the Student Tuition and Fee Review Committee and the Student Senate, who would then make recommendations to the vice president for student affairs and the president.

The recommended tuition increase would raise credit hour rates by $5 for undergraduate students from Illinois. Out-of-state undergraduate students’ tuition would rise by $15 per semester hour. The proposed increases would raise tuition from $99.75 per credit hour to $104.75 for in-state undergraduates and from $299.25 to $314.25 for out-of-state undergraduates.

An undergraduate must enroll in at least 12 credit hours of course work each semester to be considered a full-time student by the university; subsequently, the tuition raise would cost full-time students at least $60.

The BOT also is expected to give final approval to a labor agreement with the Operating Engineers Local #399, which represents about 10 Eastern employees. The contract, which runs through 2004, contains changes to the non-economic language of the agreement.