University of Illinois officials say they may need to boost financial aid because state students are increasingly choosing to go elsewhere for college.

Additional financial aid funding could come from increasing student enrollment in programs that charge more for tuition, such as the College of Engineering, or from increasing the number of higher-paying international students, said Christophe Pierre, the university's vice president for academic affairs.

The discussion came during a U. of I. board of trustees committee meeting Wednesday to review the university's proposed 2014-15 budget, up 1.6 percent from last year to $4.52 billion. The board is expected to approve the budget at its meeting next week.

The budget includes a 1.7 percent tuition increase for new students during the 2014-15 academic year, which trustees approved earlier this year and will add $34 million to the budget. Pierre said tuition costs are the primary reason students admitted to the U. of I.'s campus in Urbana-Champaign decide not to attend.

U. of I. evolves as it adjusts to huge increase in international students

New in-state undergraduate students at Urbana-Champaign this fall are paying at least $12,036, though some programs cost more. State law requires that the tuition charged to freshmen remain fixed for four years.

"Family income has not moved very much in the past few years, and families are experiencing a squeeze," Pierre said. "We suffer from competition in other states in recruiting our students."

To keep U. of I. an "attractive option," the university might need to "assign more financial aid, and better-tailored financial aid, to the needs of our students," he said.

Sadly, except for the premiere programs, attending U of I has lost much of its lustre. Obviously the cost is a big part of that. It's funny that Illinois is now just realizing how aggressively other schools (Missouri and Minnesota are two examples) are going after students from this state....

The university's proposed budget for this year includes about $84 million in aid from the university, up from $21.7 million a decade ago. Including state and federal financial aid, U. of I. students are expected to get about $347 million in aid this year. 

But the university's yield — the percentage of admitted students who decide to enroll — has been declining for the past two years. In 2006, about 58 percent of Illinois students offered admission to the Urbana-Champaign's freshman class decided to enroll. By last fall it had dropped to 45 percent, university data show.

The campus now enrolls about 1,000 fewer Illinois freshmen than it did a decade ago, while the number of international students has skyrocketed.

"(Illinois students) are receiving better scholarship support from other universities, some of them full tuition and fee waivers," U. of I. at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Phyllis Wise said. "We need to do a better job of following up after admitting students to make sure they actually come."

The campus admitted about 70 percent of Illinois students who applied this past year.

"I don't want to sound doom and gloom, but there are things we need to pay attention to," Pierre said. "Maybe we need to increase enrollments in select areas. We definitely need to increase our yields, and we need to do a better job of distributing financial aid dollars."

He said a "significant portion" of tuition from out-of-state and international students goes to financial aid. Those students, who pay more for tuition, make up a growing share of the undergraduate student body at the Urbana-Champaign campus. New nonresidents this fall pay $26,662 in base tuition, while international students pay $27,476. International students who study engineering pay the most — $34,514 in tuition.

Those figures do not include housing or fees, which can double the cost.

Trustee James Montgomery questioned whether it would be possible to not increase tuition next year. "Have we given any consideration to giving them a break for a year?" Montgomery said.

Included in the university's proposed budget is a 2.5 percent salary increase to employees for the 2014-15 academic year. Employees also are eligible for an additional 1 percent increase under a merit pay and equity program.