By Kevin Lee     Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD  –  A Chicago lawmaker is questioning whether or not trustees from the state's flagship university are doing enough to keep costs in check for in-state students.

State Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago, had scheduled a public hearing with the University of Illinois Board of Trustees on the topic of rising tuition and fees. But Sandoval said he had to cancel it due to trustees' scheduling conflicts.

Instead, Sandoval will meet with Board of Trustees Chairman Christopher Kennedy and University of Illinois interim President Stanley Ikenberry on Thursday.

"People are saying they can't afford a college education in Illinois. And I ask myself, why aren't they doing something about it?" Sandoval said.

The University of Illinois is proposing a tuition hike of about 9 percent for the upcoming school year.

Previously, Ikenberry had said tuition raises could have been as high as 20 percent, but later revised that estimate.

Sandoval wants an explanation as to how universities determine their tuition raises.

"What is the formula used to establish the annual increment increase? The 10 percent, the 20 percent, the five percent? How is that arrived (at)?" he said.

Top officials from the state's public universities have testified several times to lawmakers this year on their budget struggles.

The state is months behind in paying its backlog of bills to numerous vendors, including state universities, and university officials claim the tardy payments are impacting their budget planning for next school year. The University of Illinois is owed more than $400 million in late state payments.

But unlike most public bodies that depend on state government funds, state universities have the ability to produce revenue through tuition and fee increases.

As of now, universities lock in an undergraduate student's first-year tuition for four years. The chart below shows the University of Illinois' guaranteed undergraduate tuition rates for the 2009-2010 school year.

From http://registrar.illinois.edu/financial/ugrad_base.html

Sandoval wants university officials to explain whether or not recent tuition and fees hikes have been warranted.

"The universities have not been accountable to anybody. And although they have a governing board of trustees, every university has a governing board of trustees, they seem to be a rubber stamp for the administrations," he said.

A statement released by the University of Illinois indicated that university officials would be willing to cooperate with Sandoval.

"We're working with the Senator and his colleagues and have opened up good lines if communication in the last week and expect to do more in coming weeks. The short notice of the hearing, last Thursday for a hearing today, made scheduling difficult for trustees, nearly all of whom have additional professional and/or civic responsibilities. We hope the senator understands and look to continuing to work with him," the university statement said.

Sandoval is hoping to schedule public hearing with officials from all of the state's public universities regarding tuition and fee increases.