Illinois is starving state colleges and universities - Katie Lobosco, CNN Money

The schools are laying off staff and mandating furlough days. Library hours have been reduced. Campus buildings are closed over spring breaks and summer weekends. Maintenance work has been put off. Low-income students are worried their state funded scholarships will be pulled out from under them. Funding for state colleges fell 61% for the 2015-2016 school year, according to data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education. The schools received slightly more money for the most recent school year, but it still was about half of what was received before the cuts -- and was mostly spent on unpaid bills from the previous year. http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/29/pf/college/illinois-budget-higher-education/index.html