Illinois’ high tuition costs adding to its growing outmigration

(The Center Square) – Illinois' in-state average tuition over the last 15 years has jumped by 49%, leaving the state with the third-highest costs in the country and many students are either leaving home to seek further education or taking on more debt to make it happen in the Land of Lincoln.

A new Illinois Policy Institute survey finds average in-state costs at the state’s 12 public universities now stands at nearly $15,000, or more than $5,000 higher than the national average.

“It would be one thing if Illinois had third best colleges in the country,” Illinois Policy Institute’s Dylan Sharkey told The Center Square. “But when you look at U.S. News and World Report and the criteria they use to assess the best state for college, Illinois doesn't come in the top 10 for any of their criteria.”

Sharkey said a big driver of Illinois’ tuition costs are the state university pension plans.

“For fiscal year 2024, pensions will consume about 43 cents for every dollar spent on higher ed,” he said. “So that suggests that in-state students are paying more and getting less in a sense.”

In the budget that started July 1, $2.6 billion will be for higher education, an increase of nearly $76 million compared to the previous fiscal year. Increased taxpayer spending of $24.6 million also goes to operating funds for public universities and $5.9 million more for community colleges.

Besides arguing that a lot of taxpayer money never makes its way back to the classroom, Sharkey fears the onslaught of students leaving is poised to continue.

“From a personal standpoint, I know tons of people who have gone to school in Tennessee and Alabama and Texas and they simply see no reason to move back after they're there,” he said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has acknowledged the state has experienced college-bound students leaving the state. In the new budget, he approved a $10 million increase in tax dollars for the Monetary Award Program which grants tuition funds to income-eligible Illinois students.

With the whole issue of outmigration continuing to be a growing problem for the state, Sharkey said it’s well past time for lawmakers to start addressing the issue of runaway tuition costs that are only leading to more young people walking away from Illinois for good.

“We started looking into these numbers because we're very interested in outmigration across all ages, but particularly with younger people,” he said. “Frankly, I don't think lawmakers pay much attention to an issue like in-state tuition because it affects young people the most. In terms of political risk, lawmakers don't lose much by having upset young folks because they're not going to vote in retribution.”

With Illinois also being home to the highest in-state tuition among the country’s 10 most populous states, the only states with higher costs are Vermont and New Hampshire.