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Board approves U‑Pass Plus transportation fee extension for UIC; trustees hail student advocacy
Summary
The Board approved a transportation fee for Chicago for the 2025–26 academic year that extends the Metro U‑Pass Plus arrangement; trustees and students said the program — the first discounted Metro rate for an institution in Chicago — has enrolled thousands of students and produced savings.
The Board of Trustees approved the 2025–26 Chicago transportation fee, which includes a five-year extension of the Metro U‑Pass Plus program at the University of Illinois Chicago.
Trustee Quinn Basta, speaking during the voice-vote agenda, highlighted the program's early uptake and student advocacy that led to the agreement. "This is the first discounted rate with Metro for any institution in Chicago and it has had significant success at UIC," Basta said, citing 4,300 students enrolled in the first semester and about 4,500 the next semester.
Basta told trustees the initiative was the result of more than a decade of student organizing and noted it was saving students money, calling the five-year extension "remarkable." The transportation fee was item 12 on the voice-vote agenda; the package of voice-vote items was approved by voice vote.
The vote authorizes the transportation fee structure for the coming academic year; the meeting record does not include further operational details about fare levels or the contracting terms with Chicago's transit authority in the excerpted transcript.
