Susan Koch, Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Springfield, met with the faculty senate Friday to talk about state funding and other issues. She told the roomful of college professors that she was hesitant to tell them news that might send them out onto the job market, but, she said, a recent study by the Chronicle of Higher Educationshowed state appropriations for colleges all over the nation rose over 4 percent. Not counted in that average were Pennsylvania and Illinois — the two states where lawmakers have failed to agree on a budget, and appropriations have fallen by 100 percent.
“I think that indicates to us that, as we continue to struggle here with the funding for higher ed, we’re being out-paced by other states,” Koch said, “and that is ultimately going to reduce our competitiveness.”
She says UIS is managing to weather the budget impasse thanks to the school’s push to recruit more students — a decision made five years ago that’s now paying off with record-high enrollment. Koch tried to reassure employees, saying she’s optimistic, and they should be too, despite eight months without state aid.
Asked whether that proves Governor Bruce Rauner’s point — that institutions of higher education have fat they could cut from their budgets — Koch said UIS "has been on a diet for years, and is pretty slim" already.
“I don’t think the fact that, you know, that we’re stable, necessarily feeds into the governor’s argument,” Koch said. "I think he has the best interests of our communities in mind, and he also would understand that more college graduates is really the solution, not the problem.”
