SENSE OF THE SENATE RESOLUTION

Approved by the Academic Senate of
Illinois State University
March 6, 2002

PUBLIC MONIES TO PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS

     The State of Illinois has accepted the challenge to providing the citizens of Illinois with an excellent, affordable, and accessible education by establishing a system of public universities.  At the present time, the State of Illinois ranks among the ten wealthiest states in terms of personal income and other indices of a state's capacity to fund public programs.  However, spending per student at Illinois public colleges and universities ranks forty-seventh in the nation, a ranking inconsistent with the resources and needs of the state.  Thus, the demonstrated chronic under funding of the public colleges and universities in Illinois threatens the affordability and quality of education available to the citizens of Illinois.  These threats to affordability and quality of higher education come in the form of increased class size, decreased class availability, increased tuition rates, loss of academic services, and the inability to attract the best faculty and staff to the public institutions of Illinois. The threats to affordability and quality of Higher Education in Illinois due to under funding are occurring at a time when the State of Illinois is providing substantial support for non-public institutions. One support for non-public institutions occurs in the form of need-based grants awarded to students through the Illinois Monetary Assistance Program (IMAP).

     To put this need-based grants process in perspective, consider the following facts. (The following material was provided to the Budget Subcommittee by IBHE staff.) In 2001, Independent Colleges and Universities received $178.6 million in IMAP awards, or 50.4% of the total $354.2 million granted. Interestingly, they only got 45,580 awards, or 32.5% of the total 140,306 awards given in 2001. So, 32.5% of the people got 50.4% of the money. Why? The primary answer lies in the sticker price difference between public universities and community colleges and many independent colleges and universities. The maximum IMAP award, for example, is set by state statute at $4968, or the cost of tuition plus fees, whichever is less. However, given that IMAP awards are needs-based, the variable in question is the calculation of need: since privates are more expensive, it is easier to qualify for a full IMAP award, whereas it is harder to qualify for a full IMAP award if you are going to any public university or community college.

     We feel that this policy is untenable given the current fiscal conditions facing public institutions, which are constrained by the state legislature from significantly raising their tuitions, fees, or other income generating sources in ways that independent colleges and universities are not. We ask the Illinois legislature to support legislation that would require eligibility for need-based grants awarded to universities and college students through the IMAP be calculated by some equitable method that does not disadvantage students at public colleges and universities.

     The Council of Illinois University Senates, representing the Academic Senates for all twelve public universities in Illinois, wants what the people of Illinois want: high-quality, affordable education.  This can only be done in a political context in which our public universities are treated fairly and given the resources with which to sustain the quality of our public universities.