Gov. Quinn announces $54.8 million investment in private universities

Illinois can’t pay its bills. Lawmakers continue to eat away at the Illinois family budget with higher taxes. And the state refuses to stop ballooning pension payments from crowding out core government services. Yet Gov. Pat Quinn announced that Illinois will invest $54.8 million 27 private colleges and universities in the Chicago area. Some of this spending...

Illinois can’t pay its bills. Lawmakers continue to eat away at the Illinois family budget with higher taxes. And the state refuses to stop ballooning pension payments from crowding out core government services. Yet Gov. Pat Quinn announced that Illinois will invest $54.8 million 27 private colleges and universities in the Chicago area.

Some of this spending includes:

• The Adler School of Professional Psychology of Chicago will receive $372,270;
• Concordia University in Chicago will receive $1,279,523;
• Dominican University in River Forest will receive $1,247,090;
• East-West University in Chicago will receive $842,167;
• Hebrew Theological College located in Skokie will receive $386,685;
• The Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago will receive $805,148;
• Illinois Institute of Technology of Chicago will receive $3,288,407;
• MacCormac College in Chicago will receive $84,479;
• The Moody Bible Institute in Chicago will receive $634,137;
• National-Louis University in Chicago will receive $1,515,728;
• North Park University in Chicago will receive $1,202,863;
• Northwestern University of Evanston will receive $7,153,844 for the Technological Institute;
• Roosevelt University in Chicago will receive $2,854,327;
• Rush University of Chicago will receive $935,535;
• Staint Xavier University in Chicago will receive $2,490,028 for library renovations;
• The School of the Art Institute of Chicago will receive $1,423,670;
• Shimer College in Chicago will receive $75,633;
• Spertus College of Judaica in Chicago will receive $63,840;
• St. Augustine College in Chicago will receive $727,177;
• Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights will receive $874,928;
• The University of Chicago will receive $4,370,493 for the Interdisciplinary Molecular Engineering Research Center; and,
• The VanderCook College of Music in Chicago will receive $299,869.

It’s interesting that Gov. Quinn finds it a priority to hand out $7 million in public money to Northwestern University, a private college with an endowment exceeding $7 billion.