HR0393 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0393 LRB096 12738 KXB 26464 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The cost of attending a public university in the United States, even after subtracting out aid and inflation, rose more than 15 percent in the last five years, according to the College Board; and

WHEREAS, In Illinois alone, the average annual percent increase in tuition and fees from the period 2004-2009 was 79.3%; and

WHEREAS, At public institutions, tuition has generally been driven up by rising spending on administrators, student support services, and the need to make up for reductions in government subsidies, according to a report issued by the Delta Cost Project, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.; and

WHEREAS, At public institutions especially, the current economic troubles will likely only accelerate the trend of rising prices and classroom cutbacks; and

WHEREAS, According to a study of tuition and fee trends conducted by the College Board, the largest dollar increase in published in-state four-year college tuition in 2008-09 was $915 in Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Under this same study, Illinois' tuition and fee increases ranked fifth overall in the nation at $10,014; and

WHEREAS, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville approved at least 98 sabbaticals for this year and the beginning of next year; professors will be off from 4 1/2 months to a year, most at 100 percent pay; and

WHEREAS, Meanwhile, tuition at SIU Edwardsville is going up 6 percent and 4.5 percent at the Carbondale campus; and

WHEREAS, Courses not taught mean less revenue for the school and a lost opportunity for students; and

WHEREAS, Even if sabbaticals are important to a professor's ongoing professional development, this is the wrong time to be granting so many of them; and

WHEREAS, Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard recently said that Southern Illinois University will get $14 million less from the State this year than it did in 2002; and

WHEREAS, Kent State University in Ohio in February canceled 60 paid sabbaticals for the 2009-2010 school year to save money; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that it is imperative that universities be fiscally conservative now and set an example consistent with the business world by either eliminating sabbaticals or sharply cutting them back; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the presidents of all the public universities in Illinois.