Illinois
Tuitions costs climb as Illinois disinvests in public colleges
As college colleges round Illinois strike for higher pay and dealing situations, finances analysts have discovered that state spending on increased schooling has fallen dramatically over the previous 20 years.
When adjusted for inflation, state spending on increased schooling fell 46 % between 2000 and 2023, in response to a brand new analysis report from the left-leaning assume tank Middle for Tax and Funds Accountability.
This mirrors a much less intensive knowledge evaluation from the Illinois Board of Larger Training, which discovered that the shopping for energy of 2021 increased ed appropriations is 55.5 % of what it was in 2002.
“At this level, there was such a decline and such an underfunding of the system, (the state) has basically disinvested itself,” CTBA Affiliate Director for Funds and Coverage Allison Flanagan advised Capitol Information Illinois.
In 2002, state funding accounted for roughly 72 % of income for state universities, with the remaining coming largely from tuition and costs. In 2021, 35.7 % of college income got here from the state, with 64.3 % coming from charges, in response to the report.
These results are felt extra acutely by low-income households. For households within the backside fifth of earnings, tuition and costs for a four-year public college symbolize at the least 101 % of that family’s earnings, in response to the report.
One of many methods Illinois has historically combatted inequities in increased schooling accessibility is thru the Financial Award Program, which supplies grants to Illinois college students who show monetary want. However the common quantity of particular person MAP grants has not saved tempo with tuition.
In 2003, the common MAP grant was 47.9 % of the common tuition and costs at a four-year college. Twenty years later, the common grant might solely cowl 19.4 % of the common tuition and costs.
In recent times, nonetheless, Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration has elevated funding for this system. In his newest proposed finances, Pritzker referred to as for a $100 million improve in funding, which might symbolize a 75 % improve from the yr Pritzker got here into workplace. Final yr, the Illinois Pupil Help Fee, which administers this system, additionally authorised a framework to extend the quantity of every award.
Labor disputes
The long-term modifications in state college funding have at the least partially led to ongoing disputes between state universities and their professors.
As of April 13, colleges at Chicago State College, Governors State College and Japanese Illinois College have been all on strike. However college at each Japanese and Chicago State later suspended their strikes after reaching tentative agreements between the unions and universities. Additionally, Governors State College college suspended their strike April 17. College on the College of Illinois Chicago struck earlier this yr.
Whereas these strikes arose from distinctive negotiation breakdowns on every campus, one frequent theme has been college administration and college reckoning with a altering funding state of affairs.
Japanese Illinois College President David Glassman launched a press release April 11 characterizing the disagreements between his administration and the union.
“That the administration has many excessive priorities is totally true and all of them are necessary – reward our excellent staff, add staffing in very important operations’ areas, rebuild campus infrastructure and maintain the campus stunning, help our college students with the excessive price of a college schooling, and stay financially steady,” Glassman stated. “There are merely not sufficient college funds to sort out all of those areas besides by means of balancing the quantity of {dollars} going to every precedence.”
Unease about budgets can be stalling negotiations at Northeastern Illinois College. The college’s administration and college have been bargaining since final summer season.
“They’re claiming that they are in such a finances disaster that they cannot give us something,” NEIU’s college union president Nancy Matthews stated in an interview. “In the meantime the final couple of years of inflation has eaten away our salaries.”
NEIU college voted to authorize a strike earlier final week after 9 months of bargaining. The school’s membership voted 95 % in favor of the strike, with 90 % of members voting, in response to Matthews.
“We do not wish to strike, however we’ll,” Matthews stated.
Statewide union management has additionally pointed to long-term shifts in increased schooling funding as a driver in these strikes.
“That is what occurs when you might have 20 years of disinvestment in increased schooling,” Illinois Federation of Academics President Daniel Montgomery stated when Chicago State College college went on strike April 3.
Future funding modifications
Funding issues have attracted the eye of state lawmakers and advocates.
“There is not any doubt that universities need to cope with altering enrollment and funding,” Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, advised Capitol Information Illinois.
Ford, who chairs the Home committee that oversees increased schooling appropriations, stated wages and packages are among the many issues that universities ought to think about altering as their budgets shift.
“Are these packages really paying for themselves?” Ford stated.
Long run, the state is within the technique of contemplating a basic shift in the way it funds increased schooling. In 2021, the state created the “Fee on Equitable Public College Funding,” a physique that may advocate a brand new technique of funding universities.
Sarah Wasik is the lead creator on the CTBA report and has been a technical adviser to the fee’s work. She stated the fee is engaged on making a “system” for college funding, related in nature to the system used for state funding of Okay-12 schooling.
“We’re able to not solely change increased schooling funding within the state of Illinois, however nationally,” Wasik stated, noting that there is not a precedent for a funding system in public increased schooling.
“I am unable to wait to see the findings,” Ford stated. A advice from the fee is anticipated in July.
Contact Andrew Adams at aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com
Illinois
Illinois' first drive-thru DMV kiosk opens in Lombard
Illinois drivers can now update their license plate sticker from the driver’s seat.
The state’s first drive-thru DMV kiosk opened this week at the Lombard driver services facility at 837 Westmore-Meters Road, offering 24/7 access to renew registrations and licenses, and to obtain license plate stickers.
“This creates a better environment for folks who visit our office, and just adds a new level of convenience for people to fit things into their busy schedules,” Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said ahead of Friday’s grand opening.
Other drive-thrus will eventually be launched in Chicago, Giannoulias said. More than 100 are slated to be installed statewide over the next 18 months.
Fifteen similar kiosks were installed inside grocery stores earlier this fall, including six in Chicago, but they’re limited to stores’ business hours.
The 24/7 drive-thru comes as part of this week’s reopening of the Lombard DMV, which relocated within the Eastgate Shopping Center. It has long been one of the state’s busiest facilities, with 134,000 vehicle transactions and 125,000 driver-related services completed last year.
It’s also the state’s latest “one-stop shop” DMV, with employees cross-trained on both driver and vehicle service, and with more payment stations for fewer lines. The first one in the Chicago area opened over the summer in Melrose Park.
The Lombard location will also host administrative hearings on suspended licenses, and is expected to launch 18 electric vehicle charging stations next year.
Appointments are required for driver services inside the building — not the drive-thru — and can be scheduled at ilsos.gov.
Illinois
LSU women pull away from Illinois-Chicago to win homecoming game for Aneesah Morrow
It took the LSU women’s basketball team three quarters to pull away from its first true road opponent of the season, an Illinois-Chicago team that played pesky defense in the lane.
The No. 5 Tigers (14-0) eventually found an offensive rhythm Thursday and won 91-73.
But not before they misfired on eight of their first nine shots, allowed Illinois-Chicago to hit five of its 11 first-half 3-point tries and entered halftime with only 15 field-goal makes on 36 attempts. Across the first and second quarters, LSU failed to build a lead larger than 11, ceding the overmatched Flames (2-6) opportunities to sniff a potential upset.
Flau’jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow helped take those chances away at the start of the third quarter.
Johnson, a junior, drew three fouls in just the first five minutes of the second half, earning trips to the free-throw line that helped the LSU offense warm up. The Tigers opened the third quarter by hitting Illinois-Chicago with a 12-2 run, and they closed it with a 67-46 lead. The Flames shot just 27% from the field in the frame.
Morrow — the star senior who played her high school ball just 12 miles north of Illinois-Chicago’s Credit Union 1 arena — finished her homecoming game with 19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 steals and her nation-leading 12th double-double of the season. On Thursday, she also knocked in a pair of 3-pointers just two days after burying 2 of her 3 long-range attempts in LSU’s win over Seton Hall. Before that game, Morrow had hit just 1 of the 5 3-pointers she had taken this season.
Johnson finished with 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting, 11 rebounds and three assists. Star sophomore Mikaylah Williams added 17 points and 7 assists but shot just 1 of 6 from beyond the arc.
Illinois-Chicago shot 40% from the field and committed 19 turnovers, which LSU turned into 28 points. The Flames also missed 11 of the 15 field-goals — and 3 of the 4 3-pointers — they attempted in the third. In that quarter, they gave the Tigers 14 trips to the free-throw line.
In a Sunday win over UL, LSU committed 21 turnovers, matching its season high. Since then, it coughed up 13 possessions against Seton Hall and 13 in its win over Illinois-Chicago. It tallied more giveaways (17) in just the first half of the game against the Ragin Cajuns.
For the third straight game, LSU slotted Last-Tear Poa and Jersey Wolfenbarger into its starting lineup next to its three stars – Johnson, Morrow and Williams. Transfer point guard Shayeann Day-Wilson (ankle) sat for the third consecutive contest, and Sa’Myah Smith logged 23 minutes off the bench.
In that action, Smith played one of her most efficient games of the season. She scored 8 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and blocked a shot while shooting 4 of 4 from the field.
LSU next will break for the holidays, then play only one more nonconference game, a home contest against Albany scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 29.
Illinois
“Home Alone” house in Winnetka, Illinois sold
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