Senate Committee Eyes Free College Tuition Programs In Illinois

From The Center Square:

By Kevin Bessler

A Senate committee heard from experts about programs for free tuition at Illinois colleges and universities.

The Senate Education and Higher Education Joint Committee on Wednesday heard from many who called for more funding for the state's Monetary Award Program, and eventually free college tuition.

Miley Winograd, president of the organization Campaign for Free Tuition, said another state has figured out how to fund such a proposal.

“The state legislative fiscal analyst calculated the money Connecticut would take in if enrollment increased in their community colleges and calculated that the cost of making tuition free based on the result in the gain of enrollment, would mean that the program would pay for itself,” Winograd said.

Earlier this year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker expanded a tuition assistance program to send students to the University of Illinois paid for by taxpayers. The Illinois Commitment program offers enrollment tuition-free to in-state residents whose household income is below $61,000 annually.

The latest figures show the average annual in-state college tuition in Illinois is just over $18,000, making the state the 10th most expensive in the country.

John Miller, president of University Professionals of Illinois, said as a result of the high cost of higher education in Illinois, many students have left and gone elsewhere.

“This is why we have pushed many of our students out of the state and as a result, we have seen our population decrease,” he said. “We’ve also watched a lot of our students leave the state permanently. These are bright minds leaving us.”

A study of 33 public community college promise programs, or free-college programs, across the country found that they were associated with significant enrollment increases for first-time, full-time students, with the largest boost in enrollment among Black, Hispanic and female students.

Findings from the study, published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, also reinforced prior research that found promise programs had a greater effect on enrollment than reductions in tuition and fees.

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