By Greg Bishop/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – While Illinois has seen a loss of it’s public university students over several years, the taxpayer cost per student is, in some cases, nearly double in Illinois what it is in other states, and one driving factor is the high taxpayer cost of higher education pensions.
During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Illinois Board of Higher Education Executive Director Al Bowman said over time Illinois has lost thousands of college enrollees.
“In 1991 we had 202,000 students enrolled in public universities,” Bowman said. “In 2014 we had 193,000. So we dropped 8,600.”
State Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, said higher education is costing taxpayers per student in Illinois more than schools cost taxpayers in other states.
“We were, back in 2015, paying over $10,000 in state support per student [in Illinois],” McConchie said. “And I’m looking at Ohio, $5,100 per student, Wisconsin $5,200 per student.”
IBHE is asking for for $3.4 billion for public universities in the coming fiscal year that begins July 1, $1.7 billion of that would go to the university retirement system.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said that high pension cost is diverting dollars from other resources meant to attract students to Illinois schools.
“The money is being shunted,” Rose said. “It’s being shunted away from base operations, which frankly, are things like recruitment dollars to bring students to our institutions, quality of faculty, retention of faculty, it’s all being shunted into a different direction.”
IBHE’s request also includes $20 million for capital construction projects to address immediate health and safety needs. But that’s only a portion of the overall capital needs Bowman said are looming.
Rose said the buildout universities underwent from years ago trying to be all things to all students is another cost for taxpayers to bear, something he said also makes tuition too expensive for Illinoisans.
Rose said, as the experts, IBHE needs to find solutions.
