University of Illinois

Tuition, Financial aid and the Budget

Tuition

Tuition costs for each campus are set annually by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Students enrolled in certain, high-cost, high-demand curricula with higher starting wages for graduates, such as engineering and business, pay higher differential rates of tuition to help cover those costs.

Each year, the University Office for Planning and Budgeting prepares a document that provides the Board of Trustees with data necessary for the members to set tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year. This document-- Background Information Concerning Tuition and Financial Aid -- includes institutional comparisons, instructional costs, explanations of differential tuition, state spending levels and details on financial aid.

At the May 2007 meeting, the Board approved:

In 2003, the University of Illinois Act was amended (110 ILCS 305/25) to include a four-year tuition guarantee for new Illinois-resident undergraduate students enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program on one of the three campuses of the University. The plan allows students and families to budget for tuition costs. Each student is considered part of a cohort defined by the date of entry to the University. Each cohort is guaranteed an unchanged tuition schedule for four years.

For more detailed information, refer to the tuition and fee pages on each campus website:

Financial Aid

University financial experts advise students and their families to differentiate between college "sticker price" and the real cost after financial aid and tax credits and deductions.

More than three-fifths of the undergraduate students at UIS and two-thirds of the students at UIC and Urbana receive financial aid in the form of scholarships, employment and loans. In the 2004-05 academic year, the most recent year for which data are available, U of I students received more than $860 million in financial aid.

In fall 2005, only 36 percent of UIS students paid the full cost or "sticker price." At UIC, 46 percent of students paid full tuition and fees. In Urbana, 56 percent paid full tuition and fees.

For more information about financial aid, check:

Budget

The University of Illinois revenue budget is derived from numerous sources including State of Illinois appropriations, student tuition and fees, sponsored research, gifts and endowments, auxiliary operations income (bookstore), and earnings from the UIC hospital and medical plans.

The operating budget is more than $3.9 billion (2007-08), including State of Illinois payments on behalf of (for employee benefits) and the academic facilities maintenance fund assessment.

A 2008 budget fact sheet summarizes the preliminary revenue budget (May 2007).

 

Posted:  June 2007