But the bill is in jeopardy for the current session due to resistance by the University of Illinois, the state’s flagship institution, which dwarfs the other schools in size and prestige. In testimony during a Senate Executive Committee subject matter hearing last week, officials representing the U of I System, which also includes the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Springfield, said that although they support the bill’s aspirational goals, they disagree with the methodology.
The system educates 53% of the state’s public university students and 45% of the state’s Pell-eligible students and awards the majority of the underrepresented student degrees in the state, said Nick Jones, executive vice president and vice president of academic affairs for the U of I System. “Yet in the first year it would receive only 28% of any incremental state funding under the proposed model, resulting, ultimately, in the lowest per-student investment among all state public universities,” he said.
The Senate bill, he said, essentially recommends flat funding for the Urbana-Champaign campus over the next 15 years, and only modest increases for the Chicago campus, which has the largest gap in actual dollars. UIC reaches a higher level of adequacy on a percentage basis than many of its public university peers.
While it was known that the University of Illinois wasn’t in favor of the proposed funding formula, its forceful opposition has shaken advocates, who worry that the Big Ten university, with its wide and influential alumni base along with connections in the Legislature and state government, could tank years of work.
“I would say they waited for what they felt was the most opportune time to rally the troops to try to kill a bill,” says Christian Perry, director of policy and advocacy for the nonprofit Partnership for College Completion, which has participated in the commission.
PCC and other advocates say that the state must address the neediest schools and disagree with the University of Illinois calculations. They say U of I will benefit from a larger pie.
The distribution changes over time so that all schools are brought up to adequacy over a 15-year period, says Michael Abrahamson, associate director of research and policy at PCC. The University of Illinois System will do better in the first year, compared to a hypothetical 3% increase, and will do better over time relative to any reasonable comparison, he says.
Over more than two decades, state funding of Illinois public universities has failed to keep up with rising costs. The ever-rising tuition, now an average of $14,921 as of 2023, has stressed the family finances of college-bound students. Today, the state funds only 35% of revenue, compared to 72% in 2002.
With less latitude to raise tuition, schools are feeling the pain. Northern Illinois University in DeKalb is tightening spending as it works to reduce a $30.1 million deficit. Fall 2024 enrollment at Western Illinois University was down 10.5%, according to preliminary data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Facing a budget deficit of $22 million, the school in downstate Macomb is laying off 89 staff members this school year, including 57 faculty members.
Chicago State University President Zaldwaynaka “Z” Scott testified in favor of the bill, noting that although more jobs require postsecondary education, enrollment of Black and low-income students in Illinois has declined since 2013. She said CSU cannot adequately invest in its classrooms and laboratories, and that a quarter of the classrooms lack audiovisual capability.
“On a daily basis, I make impossible decisions about whether to provide a student a laptop, to update a bathroom or what benefits I can offer our hardworking faculty and staff,” she said.
Also testifying in favor of the bill was Illinois State University President Aondover Tarhule, who said the state system needs to be strengthened. With a $12 million deficit this year, the university in Normal has suspended salary increases for faculty and staff, cut department allocations for travel and research and delayed capital improvements.
“While many of us feel that the bill is not perfect, it’s infinitely better than where we are now,” Tarhule said in an interview. “You need more than one strong, financially thriving institution in a state as big as Illinois.”
