A group of students, educators and labor leaders is calling on Gov. JB Pritzker to release discretionary funds for higher education.
Kylie Black is a second-year master’s student at Illinois State University. She's studying to become an historian and is applying to Ph.D. programs, but says she’s struggling to find a graduate program not decimated by funding cuts.
“I have found what I want to do, but I live in a world and a country that has lost so much faith in my field and also in academia and higher education as a whole and that’s kind of terrifying,” Black said.
Black pointed out what she sees as a contradiction — a society that values education and requires one or multiple degrees for most jobs.
“But we don’t give people the access and the opportunities so they can acquire these degrees, so they can acquire these resources they need to fulfill what they want to do so they can live out this American dream,” Black said.
Black joined educators at a news conference Wednesday calling on Pritzker to release about $25 million for higher education.
State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, chairs the Illinois House committee that oversees higher education funding. Ford also called for releasing the funding, saying it’s needed beyond the classroom.
“Public universities experience lots of pressures from federal funds being cut, from helping students with homelessness, helping students with behavioral and mental health support and other life challenges that students have,” Ford said.
This year's state budget, which Pritzker signed into law in June, increases annual funding for higher education 3%, but 2% of that is at the governor's discretion. The additional 2% would be an increase of $1.6 million for ISU, the university said previously.
A spokesperson for the governor said the funding will be released once there is stability in federal funding.
“Amid the ongoing chaos coming out of Washington, Gov. Pritzker’s most recent budget strengthened core services, including higher education… even as many other areas of state government faced cuts,” a spokesperson said. “Trump’s budget bill and reckless tariffs have wreaked havoc on state revenues nationwide, making it essential to double down on fiscal discipline.”
John Miller, president of the labor union University Professionals of Illinois, says public universities in Illinois face too much uncertainty already.
“At first [withholding funds] made sense, and then as we’ve watched higher ed be injured and harmed by the enrollment cuts from international students ... the cuts from the federal government, we are at the point where we need this,” Miller said.
ISU cut $12 million from its budget last year, partly to make up for state funding shortfalls.
