Finals end; let’s grade Illinois on college support

Sauk Valley Community College students took their final exams last week, while in nearby DeKalb, Northern Illinois University students also wrapped up their finals as fall semester classes concluded.

Checking their grades online, many students now know how they measured up to what college instructors expected of them.

What about state government’s support of Sauk Valley Community College and nearby Northern Illinois University?

How does it measure up to expectations?

Not good.

At Northern, NIU President John Peters is concerned that the state budget crisis will impede the university’s operations.

Why?

Though it recently received an $8 million payment, NIU still is owed $57 million in back financial support by the state.

$57 million.

As a result, Peters recently announced new directives aimed at trimming expenditures and helping the university weather the cash-flow crisis. The lack of state funding puts in jeopardy NIU’s ability to meet its payroll and pay other bills.

At SVCC, President George Mihel is awaiting the second of four payments from the state, which owes Sauk about $2.4 million up through the end of the fiscal year in June.

The current payment was due about a month ago. When it will arrive is anybody’s guess. Mihel and his administration are wise to have implemented an austerity program to limit spending to essentials.

“For this year, we’re going to be OK,” Mihel said, noting that Sauk has some money set aside to cover current financial shortfalls.

Presumably, when tuition payments arrive in January, both institutions will gain a measure of financial breathing room.

That doesn’t absolve the state government from its growing irresponsibility toward the young lives who depend on affordable public colleges and universities upon which to build their futures.

Illinois must get its financial act together. If not, public colleges and universities will have to keep raising tuition, which will inevitably price more and more students out of the market.

Along with catching up with its financial support for public colleges, Illinois must find money to provide millions of dollars in MAP grants to qualifying students for the second semester, which starts next month.

Will Illinois leaders ever learn how to get this education-funding lesson right? We have our doubts.