Illinois Governor Seeks Nearly $387M in Higher Ed Cuts

Illinois's new governor, Bruce Rauner, this week proposed a $387 million cut to the state's higher education budget. About $209 million of that will come from the University of Illinois -- that's nearly one-third of the system's state subsidy. 

"A budget cut of that magnitude would substantially harm our students and the people of Illinois by most severely impacting the university’s core education and research missions," Robert Easter, the president of the three-campus system, said in a statement. He promised to vigorously lobby against the cuts. While the governor is a Republican, Democrats have the majority in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly.

Illinois is one of the few states to see dramatic increases in higher ed spending in the last few years, but none of the money has gone into the classroom -- instead, the state has been ponying up hundreds of millions of dollars to fund a broken pension system.