Hi. I was accepted to UIUC, which was one of my top choices. I recently heard that the state is cutting a lot of funding for public schools. How (if at all) might this affect the quality of education, national prestige, and overall experience I would have at Illinois?
The governor is currently holding funding for state universities as leverage to get the legislature to accept his legislative agenda. An agenda which they would, otherwise, not accept. The good news is that UIUC is the state’s flagship university. It has a very large endowment that it can use to weather any mischief from political games. Other institutions without a strong alumni base and endowment are in trouble and cutting back. While UIUC is taking a hit, any cuts will be administrative in nature, preserving faculty and the classroom.
On the other hand, the politics in this state is now toxic. Never before in Illinois history has the state not funded higher education. Never missed that funding even through the Civil war, or the Great Depression. But with the strategy being employed on both the state and federal level of threatening government shutdowns, lack of signed budgets, etc to achieve political objectives rather than good old-fashioned negotiation in good faith where both parties get a little, and give a little, the Universities find themselves as one of the current hostages in this standoff.
After all is said and done, however, the state only accounts for 17% of U of I’s operating budget, and there is little chance of the current political debacle affecting its educational mission or national standing.
Thanks for the information
California almost went bankrupt and UC Berkeley is still going strong. I hope things turn out for the better. It is sad to see a great school go down. So many students will be affected.
Get information from the relevant UIUC college/program. The risk and impact of state funding and the budget crisis isn’t the same for all programs, even within the same university. Some programs don’t receive state funding, and as for general resources and services, UIUC is best-equipped to ride it out in any event.
The college of business gets no money from the state anyway. They are fully funded by graduate tuition dollars, philanthropists, and corporate sponsors. They are still investing
You might find this recent letter from the Engineering Dean informative.
http://engineering.illinois.edu/news/state-budget-impasse.html