New bill could lead to higher tuition at Illinois’ flagship universities
 State higher education funding rewards shrinking universities, punishes growth

CHICAGO (March 5, 2026) — A proposed overhaul to Illinois’ higher education funding formula could punish the state’s few growing universities.

A bill in Springfield would permanently base state higher education funding on historical precedent, granting shrinking universities more money even if enrollment declines further. Universities with growing enrollment could see smaller funding increases, the Illinois Policy Institute found, which could make tuition even more expensive at the state’s top schools.

Only three Illinois public universities reported higher enrollment this fall than they had two decades ago: the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois-Chicago and Illinois State University. These growing universities have seen the largest drops in per-student state funding despite driving most of the enrollment growth statewide since 2006.

The other nine public Illinois universities all have lost students since 2006. Six of those schools lost more than one-third of their enrollment and three lost more than half, the institute found.

“Illinois should rethink how its universities are structured and funded. Schools should be encouraged to specialize and build strengths in specific fields, and funding should reflect enrollment trends and the true per-student cost,” said Mark Batinick, a former Illinois lawmaker and a policy adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. “Instead, the state appears poised to incentivize failure by sending more money to campuses that are losing students and graduating a fewer percentage of those who attend. That approach is especially dangerous as the enrollment decline driven by the drop in birth rates following the 2008 Great Recession is just beginning to reach our colleges.”

“Illinois’ funding system ignores what students are actually choosing,” Batinick said. “When enrollment shifts toward certain universities, state funding should follow those students. Instead, the current and proposed formula protects decline and penalizes growth. Universities that are attracting more students often end up with less funding per student, leaving them with fewer resources to expand programs and facilities or rein in tuition. If we truly want to fix higher education funding, control costs and keep more young people in Illinois, the money needs to follow the student.”

Full-time state university tuition and fees have risen 66% on average since 2009, outpacing inflation. Illinois in-state tuition is now ninth-highest in the nation. Meanwhile, Illinois spends the second most in the nation per full-time student at its public universities.

Illinois reported the country’s second-largest net loss of degree-seeking undergraduates, and future enrollment is predicted to plummet by nearly one-third in Illinois by 2041 because of declining birth rates and demographic changes.

To learn more about Illinois’ higher education enrollment, visit illin.is/highered.

For bookings or interviews, contact media@illinoispolicy.org or (312) 607-4977.