‘It is time our state becomes a leader on this issue, too’

As Illinois public universities confront mounting fiscal pressures due to decades of state disinvestment amid a broader landscape of financial challenge for Illinois, they have been navigating an added issue. Just last year, the Illinois General Assembly allocated a 3% increase in appropriations to universities, yet institutions received only 1%, with the remaining 2% being held by the Governor’s office in contingency. This winter, students from Eastern Illinois University to Chicago State University and Western Illinois University have been speaking out, including before the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), about the impact of state underfunding on their academic and campus experiences.

Megan Fox, a senior at Eastern Illinois University, recently shared her thoughts.

As the daughter of a public school teacher, the value of education has been instilled in me from a very young age. I knew that I wanted to pursue higher education, and I now find myself entering my senior year at Eastern Illinois University. The experience has been nothing short of wonderful, and what I consider the “college experience”. The joy of learning new things in engaging classes, the excitement of seeing friends at club meetings, and the dread of opening up the financial aid tab every semester. While EIU prides itself on being an affordable university, with a myriad of issues like federal funding uncertainty and enrollment fluctuations, this title is hard to maintain. As we moved through the semester, the financial situation became clearer, and more dire. The budget for the 2026 fiscal year has a $1.9 million deficit (Daily Eastern News, 2025), meaning that something had to give. Unfortunately, the savings were found in the elimination of 44 staff positions. Cherished faculty and staff were laid off because of the crisis in higher education funding. But it does not have to be this way. 

Eastern Illinois University is only 61% adequately funded per the formula funding model (IBHE, 2025). To make EIU fully funded, $62,500,000 would need to be additionally allocated. That number may seem large and almost unattainable, but it is not only achievable, but beneficial for the state. Higher education is an investment not only for students but for the state. Just a 1% increase in people with a bachelor’s degree would lead to a 0.8% reduction in the unemployment rate, and at Eastern Illinois University alone there is a $396.3 million economic output (ILEPI, 2025). By keeping students in Illinois for college, our economy grows and results in more long-term residency in the state. But with out of state schools being able to provide tuition at a competitive or significantly lower rate than state universities, this is a real concern. The passing of an equitable formula funding bill would mean that the burden is taken off of students to pursue their education, and make the choice of staying in state an easy one. 

This would not be the first time the state legislature acted on equitable funding for education. In 2017, the Evidence Based Funding Formula was put in place to address discrepancies in K-12 education around the state. Since these schools rely primarily on property taxes, students are disadvantaged based on where they live. EBF addresses this directly and has been for the last 8 years. Equitable Formula Funding would do the exact same thing. The only state university that is close to being 100% adequately funded is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While UIUC is certainly a successful educational institution, and one that services many of Illinois’s students, it should not be the only one receiving its fair share of funding. Within the University of Illinois System alone there are adequacy gaps, with University of Illinois at Springfield being 72% adequately funded and the University of Illinois at Chicago being 62% adequate funded. The vast majority of state schools would benefit from the passage of this legislation. 

As a student at one of these underfunded universities, I see the impacts of this financial crisis everyday. Many times I have had to talk to friends who are quietly wondering “will I be returning next semester?” With uncertainty at the federal level regarding loans and grants, my classmates wonder if their funding will still be there to aid them in their education. The problem that many are unaware of, is the difference between a friend returning next semester or an empty seat in a classroom. It is the difference between the world of opportunity that is opened when one can apply for a job and show their commitment to furthering their education. Illinois has prided itself on being a national leader, especially in the face of the seismic federal shifts this past year: it is time our state becomes a leader on this issue, too.