Eastern Illinois tuition rates to increase

MATTOON — Incoming freshmen and transfer students coming to Eastern Illinois University will expect an increase in tuition beginning at the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year. Tuition will be increasing by 2.75% per credit hour, according to a statement by Matt Bierman, the University’s Vice President of Business Affairs.

This change means that an incoming freshman taking 15 credit hours of coursework will have to pay an additional $139.50, or $9.30 per credit hour. That rate is now $5,214.75, or $347.65 per credit hour.

The rate differs compared to the rate that was paid by freshmen coming in for the 2024-25 academic year, who paid $5,075.25 for the same number of credit hours, or $338.35 per credit hour.

“It’s cost increases, I mean, you go to the gas station or grocery store, and things have gone up; Well, things go up for us too,” said Bierman. “Our labor goes up, we have salary increases to cover and all that kind of stuff.”  

The new rate is 11.4% higher than what it cost incoming freshmen coming to Eastern Illinois in 2021, which was $308.04 per credit hour.

Room and board rates will also be increasing for both current and incoming students. Double rooms as singles, deluxe doubles, and triple rooms as a double for Lawson and Andrews Halls will cost an additional $150 per semester.

Also experiencing price increases will be the meal plans. A ten-meal plan will cost an additional $219 per semester ($5,713), while the 14-meal plan will cost an additional $234 per semester ($6,087). The all-access meal plan will cost an additional $250 per semester ($6,510).

The seven-meal, 12-meal, and 15-meal plans will be discontinued in the upcoming academic year, according to an October 2024 report in The Daily Eastern News.

Students opting to live in university apartment housing will also see increases, with monthly rents increasing by roughly 4%. However, the actual rent increase will depend on the apartment type.

The new rates will become effective as of August 1, 2025.

Student fees remain unchanged, but fee calculations are changing

Students will not see an increase in student fees this upcoming school year. While the rate will remain at $140.80 per credit hour, the methodology by which the fees are calculated is changing.

In the past, student fees were calculated at a fixed rate of 12 credit hours, regardless of how many credits a student was taking.

Under the new method, students will only pay fees equal to the number of credits they’re signed up for each semester. That would mean a full-time student taking 12 or 15 credit hours would pay fees equivalent to those credits taken, or $1,689.60 and $2,112.00, respectively.

Part-time students taking less than 12 credit hours would also be responsible for paying for the number of credit hours taken. For instance, a part-timer taking nine credit hours of coursework would pay $1,267.20 in student fees.

Starting with the upcoming academic year, money will be allocated to different fees while keeping the per credit hour (pch) rate the same:

• $0.10/pch taken from the Information Technology Fee
• $0.10/pch taken from the Health Service & Counseling Fee
• $0.24/pch taken from the MLK Jr. University Union Fee
• $0.17/pch taken from the Campus Improvement Fee

• $0.20/pch added to the Shuttle Bus Fee
• $0.41/pch added to the Student Recreation Center Fee
• $0.02/pch added to the Student Legal Service Fee

Online students will also not see a change in rates.

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Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.

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