* From my weekly newspaper column which we discussed yesterday…

And while universities are receiving a 5 percent increase in operating assistance, the total appropriation is still just 96.4 percent of what they were appropriated in the Fiscal Year 2015 budget – the last one approved before the two-year impasse began.

* The CTBA puts this in historical context…

But Illinois’ investment in higher education is even more inadequate when viewed over the long term. Even with the Governor’s proposed increase in funding, Illinois would be providing less support for higher education in FY2020 than it did in FY2000 in both nominal and inflation-adjusted terms. In fact, the proposed FY2020 appropriation is just over half of the inflation-adjusted appropriation two decades earlier.

The numbers…

       

29 Comments - Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:05 pm: You buried the lede: “In fact, the proposed FY2020 appropriation is just over half of the inflation-adjusted appropriation two decades earlier.” We’re funding higher ed at 1/2 the level of 20 years ago? Wow. Just wow. - illdoc - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:08 pm: And that is the issue. In past discussions people have blamed everything from unions to pensions for rising tuition. If state support goes down, tuition goes up - City Zen - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:15 pm: What was the pension contributions in FY2000 vs FY2020? - Demoralized - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:17 pm: ==What was the pension contributions in FY2000 vs FY2020?== That’s not relevant. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:19 pm: The appropriation has remained stagnant to slightly declining over the last decade but appropriations alone are not the sole measure of HE state support. The “on-behalf” state support for the University of Illinois alone has increased from $305 million in FY07 to over $1.7 billion in FY18. - CFE - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:20 pm: It should also be pointed out that the majority of this money goes downstate. I don’t know the exact figures, but NIU, UIC, and Chicago State are in the Chicago area. I think all the rest of the money is going downstate. That has to be at least a billion missing dollars a year. There’s a feeling downstate that things aren’t like they used to be. Well, multiply that billion dollars by the 20 years of underfunding and that’s a lot of money that’s no longer flowing into these downstate communities. Too bad the Republicans who represent these districts keep voting against higher education. A little more self interest would have helped everybody. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:24 pm: It’s going to be a long slog. –I don’t know the exact figures, but NIU, UIC, and Chicago State are in the Chicago area. – DeKalb is still surrounded by cornfields and the train doesn’t go out there. I don’t think they’re Chicago metro yet, certainly not like UIC or Chicago State. - thunderspirit - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:29 pm: I suspect CFE is referring to NEIU, not NIU. - DarkDante - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:30 pm: ==The “on-behalf” state support for the University of Illinois alone has increased from $305 million in FY07 to over $1.7 billion in FY18.== Most of the on-behalf payments are for health insurance, pension costs, and other benefits. Also, the level of support for these services has not increased, but their costs have increased drastically. For this reason, I believe these “on0behalf” payments are completely separate from the GRF/tuition rates discussion. Direct State support to the Unviersities are supposed to help subsidize tuition dollars; when the state subsidy declines, this puts immediate upward pressure on tuition rates. - Montrose - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:34 pm: That’s insane. Is there any analysis that looks at whether our disinvesment in higher ed plays a role in out migration? I am not assuming it does. I am genuinely curious if there is a relationship or if it is just coincidental. - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:39 pm: Outmigration of graduating HS seniors tracks with this disinvestment. https://www.ibhe.org/assets/files/OutmigrationContext2018.pdf A steadily increasing number of students are seeking higher ed in states that value the resource. The last governor claimed to be concerned about people leaving the state, but he did nothing to entice them to stay. If anything, he pushed folks out the door. We need to view higher ed as a key investment when rebuilding our state. We need to keep our HS seniors and start attracting students from other states. College graduates are the resource companies like Amazon value the most. (Even more than tax breaks.) - Scamp640 - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:40 pm: I assert that this is the single largest Illinois economic development failure in this century. Not hyperbole. - City Zen - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:42 pm: ==That’s not relevant.== It is if those university employees are expecting pensions. - Because I said so.... - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:45 pm: Montrose, out migration was a problem before the budget impasse but became worse. High school counselors were advising students to look out of state because schools couldn’t guarantee their majors would be available in in 4 years. The destruction done to higher ed under Rauner will take a very long time to recover from. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:47 pm: ===Not hyperbole=== Agreed. Blagojevich did a lot of bad things. This was among the worst. - City Zen - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:49 pm: ==Outmigration of graduating HS seniors tracks with this disinvestment.== Illinois and New Jersey have both been at the bottom of the out-migration rankings for 20+ years (as far back as the reports go). If disinvestment is the cause, it has been for some time. - City Zen - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 1:06 pm: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Illinois had a net out-migration of students of 8,176, the 2nd worst number in the country behind New Jersey… In 1992. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 1:10 pm: This also tracks with the decline of IBHE. It has been over a decade since a Deputy Director of Academic Affairs was hired via a proper search, no qualified candidates seek the post. Instead it has been a series of interim deputies named to the permanent position following failed searches. The last two Deputy Directors of Finance were the only candidates remaining in the pool and hired out of desperation, with no experience in higher education. - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 1:29 pm: The best ROI for taxpayers is generally investments in education and infrastructure. Illinois is 0 for 2 over the last decade plus. You get what you pay for too, in this case, we just shifted the cost from taxpayers to students. Good luck getting a mortgage with $30,000 in student loan debt. This is one reason why Millennials are so fond of socialism. When Bernie Sanders says college should be free, they nod their heads. It’s wrong, but you can’t blame them for liking the sound of it. - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 1:41 pm: ==If disinvestment is the cause, it has been for some time. == Indeed, it tracks back to at least 2000. I haven’t seen funding data from the 1990’s. - Dr. Pepper - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 2:03 pm: The last time UI received any increase in funds from GRF was 2003. The ensuing years have all been neutral or more often cuts. That’s a long time. - Lt Guv - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 2:31 pm: What they’ve done is pathetic. I initially graduated from NIU in 1985. It was a vital, growing university. I’m back for a 2nd degree today and it’s a shadow of its former self. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 2:36 pm: UI takes a lot attacks for its growing international population, but native students are lucky to have the financial support or UI wouldn’t have been able to hold the line on tuition the last few years. - City Zen - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 3:12 pm: ==UI takes a lot attacks for its growing international population== But what if that international student takes an engineering slot from an otherwise qualified in-state student? Do you think that Illinois kid is going to one of the directionals instead? Doubtful. UIUC bet big on China. That might not help them long-term. - chad - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 3:39 pm: So sad to see the generalized implosion of our Illinois higher education governance and funding activities. I agree with Lt Guv that the vigor of the 80’s and well into the 90’s of NIU and other campuses is a find memory in comparison to what we have today. It was a nasty combination of bad governance and financial decisions that placed us where we are now at. One of the decisions regretted by many was the elimination of the previously-elected U of I Board of Trustees. Before they became just another appointed group they used to bring governance integrity and actual budget advocacy to that institution. I wish we could get away from the urgent survival mentality of these boards to a strategic approach which is now needed. We need economies of scale and division of labor. Gov. Pritzker, just … do … it. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 7:51 pm: –I assert that this is the single largest Illinois economic development failure in this century.– And it was and remains a core state responsibility. Yet politicians and deep-thinker editorial types can yammer on and on about “business climate” and cheer corporate handouts but not make a peep about this neglect. - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 10:22 pm: ==But what if that international student takes an engineering slot from an otherwise qualified in-state student? …UIUC bet big on China.== It was a forced bet based on a lack of state funding. Those international students pay top dollar for their spots. Our flagship university cannot depend on state funding, so it looks for other sources of revenue. Last spring, IMSA, a jewel in our state’s education system and one of the top public high schools in the nation, decided it needed to make the same move to ensure a stable source of revenue, and no one batted an eye. - FGS - Wednesday, Feb 27, 19 @ 7:20 am: Western Illinois University will be laying of hundreds of employees on March 1. It’s going to be a bloodbath, and will crush the community and region. Our Republican representatives don’t care, and our leadership is inept. It’s a sad, sad time for higher education, especially in rural Illinois. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 27, 19 @ 8:15 am: WIU’s Physics Department has been recognized for its success nationally; http://www.wiu.edu/news/newsrelease.php?release_id=16070 But the IBHE has placed it on its “low-performing” programs list because IBHE uses the same metrics to judge WIU as it does UIUC which is nonsense. We need some leaders at IBHE who have both common sense and experience in higher education. 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