Lawmakers, university officials warn of higher ed cuts without new revenue - Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois

Democrats in the Illinois House, along with officials from each of the state’s public universities, warned Wednesday that unless the state finds new sources of revenue, there likely will have to be funding cuts to higher education in the upcoming budget year. “For years, our universities have been unfairly treated as their state has decreased funding to the universities,” Rep. LaShawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat and chairman of the House higher education budget committee, said during a Statehouse news conference. “Last year’s funding level is not adequate enough, and as we go through the budget, we learn that the revenue to meet (the fiscal year 2019) level is not there.” Ford said state funding for higher education peaked in 2002 around $2.4 billion. For the current budget year, the state is expected to spend only about $1.8 billion, roughly 25 percent less than it spent 17 years ago. https://www.sj-r.com/news/20190501/lawmakers-university-officials-warn-of-higher-ed-cuts-without-new-revenue