SPRINGFIELD - Although Illinois' public universities received increased funding in next year's state budget, tuition is again on the rise at each school.

All of the colleges have approved tuition increases for incoming students this fall, except for Northern Illinois University. NIU's board of trustees is set to approve a tuition increase at its meeting on Thursday.

Public universities received a 2 percent on average increase in state funding for next year. However, university officials say chronic underfunding has led public universities to increase tuition and fees.

"The dollars we received from the state for several years remained the same," said Vicki Woodard, an Eastern Illinois University spokeswoman. "We wanted to keep the quality up. We believe to do that, we needed the extra funding."

Despite a 1.4 percent increase in state funding, Eastern's board of trustees raised tuition and fees to $7,068 from $6,373 last year, in order to cover costs, Woodard said.

The University of Illinois plans to raise tuition by 60 percent over five years to meet budgetary needs. Students also must pay a $250-per-semester fee to cover routine maintenance.

State officials have tried to keep college costs in check, said an Illinois Board of Higher Education spokesman.

Don Sevener said the state has made it a priority to fund student aid programs, including the Monetary Award Program, or MAP.

This year, state lawmakers added MAP Plus, a program for students who don't qualify for MAP to receive some aid. The program includes a $500 grant for students to pay their educational expenses.

Despite efforts to fund student aid, tuition is still on the rise.

State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, whose district includes Illinois State University, said tuition had to increase after the colleges did not get enough state funding.

"It gets back to state government and turning around our priorities," Brady said. "We have to continue to invest in higher education. If we don't do that, then the universities have no other alternatives than to raise tuition."

Currently, universities must plan budgets in four-year cycles because state law locks in student tuition rates for incoming freshmen. Each incoming class has it's tuition guaranteed for the four years.

It can be rather difficult to make the predictions, Sevener said. "It's sort of like predicting the weather," Sevener said. "You want to plan an event, a wedding or an outing four months from now and you're hoping the weather will accommodate the kinds of things you want to do."

The annual tuition hikes are not that bad, said Sevener.

"It looks like a significant increase, but spread over four years is really a pretty modest year-by-year increase," Sevener said.

Brady said he is worried high tuition costs could turn potential students away from college.

"If we're not careful, we will get things to the point in public education to where you're preventing some of the students from getting a college education because they simply can't afford it," Brady said.

Sevener said there hasn't yet been a noticeable effect on enrollment numbers.

"There is always that risk," Sevener said. "But colleges and universities have been experiencing record levels of student application and enrollment. Enrollments have either been stable or slightly increasing."