Colleges and universities experienced a 1.8 percent decrease in funding at the state and local level in 2016 — part of a downward trend that has led students and families to shoulder a larger portion of the cost of higher education, a new report released Thursday shows.
The report — produced by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association and titled “State Higher Education Finance” — states total state and local appropriations topped $90 billion, down slightly from the previous year, although more money went to student financial aid.
The report suggests things would not have been so bad and that state and local support would have actually increased by 3.2 percent were it not for Illinois, which the report notes cut its support by a “staggering 80 percent.”
However, one higher education finance expert says Illinois should not be blamed for the overall trend because there will always be an outlier or several outliers that drive the numbers down.
“You’re always going to have an Illinois or a group of states that make significant cuts,” said Dr. Raymond C. Scheppach, a professor of public policy at the University of Virginia and project director of the recently disbanded National Commission on Financing 21st Century Higher Education.
“You saw this in Wisconsin or other states before that,” Scheppach said. “I’m one who believes you’re going to continue to have several outlier states because of budget problems. It’s Illinois today. Tomorrow it could be New York or Texas. It’s a fact of life.”
Thomas L. Harnisch, director of state relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, called the situation in Illinois “alarming.”
