Now Is the Time to Transform How Higher Education is Funded in Illinois

3-minute read

Five years ago, Illinois made history when the K-12 evidence-based funding formula was passed. As a member of the Faith Coalition for the Common Good as well as a member of the Coalition for Transforming Higher Education Funding, I actively fought to reform the existing funding formula because I was committed to helping Illinois prioritize the equitable funding of schools. I believe it is now time to bring that same commitment to higher education. With the creation of the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding, Illinois has an opportunity to create a transformative funding model that can help our great public institutions thrive.

Roughly a decade's worth of disinvestment in higher education and an inequitable distribution of funding has resulted in increased tuition and fee costs and decreased affordability. Data have shown the significant impact this has on enrollment and completion gaps, particularly for Black and Latinx students and students from low-income households.

Equitably and adequately serving students while funding public universities means addressing the needs of the students, all the students. Some schools draw students from more privileged backgrounds than others, and their students arrive with laptops; at other schools, students only have their phones, and struggle to pay for books. At both, students often work two jobs, just to pay for basic personal necessities. At some universities, students and teachers must function with inadequate equipment, sometimes in unhealthy surroundings. The stress for students can be overwhelming, yet Advising and Counseling Centers are often understaffed, with few if any professional staff for students who look like them. Any kind of new funding formula should address these kinds of inequities and others I saw as a Professor of English at Western Illinois University.

Until Illinois makes adequate, equitable, and stable investments that keep pace with evolving student needs, it’s contributing to unrealized student potential. As the commission reviews the data and listens to experts and advocates from the field, I urge them to define adequacy based on what students and institutions actually need and to fund requests based on that definition.

Illinois still has a way to go to make up for past neglect, so now is the time to fund a model that will support our institutions and allow our students to prosper and thrive.

Authored by Maurine Magliocco, member of the Coalition for Transforming Higher Education Funding