Illinois grads flee the ‘wreckage’ caused by Rauner, budget crisis - Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

At high school graduation parties this month, after congratulating the grad, make a note to ask where they plan on attending college. Thanks to the state budget crisis, the higher education destination for many Illinois teens is out of state. Every year, about 32,000 Illinois high school grads go out of state, while only about 16,000 out-of-staters come here. That’s a net loss of 16,000 students. Under Gov. Bruce Rauner, funding for public four-year universities has been cut by $1.4 billion, or 60 percent. Funding for community colleges has dropped by two-thirds, or nearly half a billion dollars. These funding cuts have caused state universities to eliminate 1,400 jobs. http://www.stltoday.com/opinion/mailbag/illinois-grads-flee-the-wreckage-caused-by-rauner-budget-crisis/article_1c6c1641-ab9e-56e5-a9ce-2187305e07f8.html