Higher Education

Illinois State University President Larry Dietz said he is really disappointed lawmakers have failed to approve a budget for the second consecutive year. The spring session of the General Assembly ended Tuesday night without any viable spending plan. Dietz said this has been bad news for eleven months.

Many businesses are figuring out how much new federal rules on overtime pay will cost them starting in December. The effect on Illinois State University could be in the two million dollar range.

The Illinois House approved a proposal to fully fund tuition grants for low-income students amid Republican objections the bill is a false promise.  

The plan sponsored by Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan appropriates about $397 million to colleges and universities for the grants under the Monetary Assistance Program.  The House passed the bill Tuesday on a 68-45 vote. The Senate must still consider it.  

Yet again, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Governor Bruce Rauner are at odds.  This time, over a constitutional amendment introduced by the Speaker.

ISU Trustees will consider a three percent tuition hike for incoming students. Fees would also rise by three percent. Room and board would go up one percent.

Illinois lawmakers have approved a $600 million short-term funding infusion for higher education institutions that have been struggling financially due to not receiving state money during the state budget impasse.

Non Tenure Track professors at ISU are showing solidarity with their counterparts at other budget strapped campuses with a demonstration on the quad.

The Head of the McLean County Board says work still needs to be done to adjust to same day voter registration. Students at Illinois State University had wait times of up to three hours on primary Election Day last month. Some left discouraged without voting.

As some colleges and universities head toward a fiscal cliff, lawmakers are talking about ways to keep them afloat. 

One plan would only fund five schools.   Representative Rita Mayfield, a Waukegan Democrat, says money would go to Chicago State, Western Illinois University, Eastern, Northeastern and Southern.  She says those are the ones most at risk of shutting down. 

"This funding will provide emergency funding just to keep their doors open until hopefully we can get a budget over the summer," Morefield said.

Southern Illinois University's Center for Archaeological Investigations has a new piece of equipment that can help give a picture of what's below the surface.

Governor Bruce Rauner wasn't at a press conference in the Normal town hall today, but his words were.

SIU President Randy Dunn says cuts in state funding could be the end of the institution as it currently exists. In testimony before a Senate Committee Thursday morning, Dunn says people in the region know SIU is in trouble, and area residents want stability.

Governor Bruce Rauner visited a vocational school in Peoria Tuesday to tout his plans to improve Illinois schools.

Rauner’s ideas include funneling more state money to public schools and eliminating unfunded state mandates. Rauner was speaking in a school district where the majority of students are low income.

Low-income college students promised state help paying for tuition will continue to go without it.

Governor Bruce Rauner has vetoed Democratic-backed legislation to pay for so-called "MAP grants." The measure also funded community colleges. Students have traveled to Springfield in recent days to rally in support of the plan.

As the Illinois State University Board of Trustees meets and marks it's 20th anniversary, members of the board were thinking of the situation in Springfield. Board Chair Rocky Donahue says during the on-going budget stalemate, when every expenditure is being questioned, ISU is doing it's part.

Governor Bruce Rauner's budget speech largely avoided specifics about state spending. Instead, he's still arguing Illinois should be more favorable to business. 

Rauner took pains to portray himself as open to working with majority Democrats -- he used the word "compromise" five times.

This weekend a group of Illinois Wesleyan University Students is headed for a national ethics competition in Virginia. Wesleyan earned a slot in the competition by virtue of a 3rd place finish in the Central States Regionals. Coach Emily Kelahan says along with learning to defend their own positions on ethical issues, the students also try to understand the other view.

The state of Illinois has not spent a penny since June to fund the Monetary Award Program, or MAP grants many students rely on. Kayra Ester is a student at Heartland Community College, where she told the audience she's also an employee at Heartland.

An auditorium with $3 million in renovations is for sale for $100. The Carthage City Council has approved buying the structure from Carl Sandberg College in Galesburg. The college board will vote on the matter this month. The school received the Charger Auditorium in 2008 as a donation from Pairieland Investment Group. It wanted to create a multi-building partnership that fizzled in large part because of the recession. Sandburg president Lori Sundberg says after $3 million in renovations, the school spends up to $35,000 a year to maintain it.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will appear at a public event next month at the University of Illinois in Champaign. The university's College of Law says she will conduct a wide-ranging hour-long discussion with Professor Robin B. Kar. The March 7 event is free, but tickets are required. Sotomayor joined the Supreme Court in 2009. She is the country's first Hispanic justice.

University of Illinois President Timothy Killeen says he agrees with some of the concerns about excessive spending at public universities raised by an aide to Governor Bruce Rauner. He was among those to respond last week to the memo from Deputy Chief of Staff Richard Goldberg. Killeen says the university has taken steps to enhance the experience for the student… including an administrative hiring freeze on the administration, and other measure to make sure the U of I is ‘fiscally prudent.’

More than 300 college students and twin city residents took part in a watch party at Illinois State University for President Obama’s State of the Union Address. ISU became the national hub for a live webcast sent out to nearly 500 campuses in the United States. 

Heartland Community College Student Hetal Bhirawani says she is impressed with the younger generation. “We are all interested in politics, and we want to know where we are going, where our future is going, and what the people in authority are doing to secure our future.”

An accreditation agency has put the troubled College of DuPage in suburban Chicago on probation for two years. The school made the Higher Learning Commission's decision public on Wednesday. The school remains accredited, but being on probation means it has two years to address concerns from the commission. If the school doesn't address those concerns, the commission could withdraw accreditation. The school will be evaluated again in 2017. The commission says it found concerns with the college's integrity in its financial, academic, personnel and other functions.