Hynes tells CLC administrators state fails college funding duties
As state funding for higher education declines, families will need to continue picking up the slack with tuition increases, state Comptroller Daniel Hynes said.
Hynes met with administrators at the College of Lake County Wednesday in Grayslake to discuss the future of college and university funding, which under Gov. Rod Blagojevich's leadership, he said, is grim.
"The legislature has seen the tuition increases and now they are connecting the dots and seeing why," Hynes told reporters after his closed-door meeting with college administrators.
"Hopefully, we can turn the tide and get education back to being a priority," said Hynes, a Democrat in his third term as comptroller.
Since fiscal year 2003, total appropriations for higher education have dropped by $326 million, including $20 million for community colleges, Hynes said.
In the past fiscal year alone, operating grants for CLC have decreased by 8 percent, to about $6 million.
Ideally, educational institutions are funded equally by the state, property taxes and tuition. CLC officials said state money has dropped so much that it makes up only about 8 percent of the school's revenue.
Because of this, average university tuition costs have gone up more than 50 percent, while community colleges have increased tuition by about 33 percent.
The cost to attend CLC has risen almost 64 percent since the school began annual tuition increases in 2003.
Tuition will be $95 per credit hour for the 2008-09 academic year, up almost 6 percent from this year.
CLC's latest tuition increase, approved in February, means that an average full-time student taking 15 credit hours per semester will pay $75 more, bring tuition to $1,425.
CLC isn't alone. Harper College in Palatine, College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Elgin Community College in Elgin, McHenry County College in Crystal Lake and Triton College in River Grove have all increased tuition in the last year.
"This is a national trend," Hynes said. "Higher education has become less a priority of state governments and the burden is falling on the local taxpayers and families."
CLC was Hynes' second college stop. He met with officials at Western Illinois University in Macomb last week and is planning stops at the University of Illinois and Illinois State University.
"I get the feeling universities and colleges are afraid to take on the governor on this issue because he controls their budget," Hynes said.
Nancy McNerney, CLC's interim vice president for administrative affairs, said Hynes was unable to offer any short-term solutions, but was very attentive to the college's needs.
"We appreciate when any state official takes the time to listen and talk to us," McNerny said.