whatever cause, many Illinois public universities are in trouble.

[mamalion]

https://www.illinoispolicy.org/moodys-downgrades-7-illinois-universities-5-are-junk/

As I have written before, even the Illinois flagship in Illinois is showing economic strain. I had not realized the troubles of the regionals.

[Gator88NE]

The number of administrators in Illinois’ universities grew by nearly a third (31.1 percent) between 2004 and 2010. At the same time, faculty only increased 1.8 percent, and the number of students only grew 2.3 percent.

That there is some significant bloat. @-)

A decade ago, retirement costs made up only 20 percent of the state’s total higher education spending. Today, that figure has ballooned to 53 percent. As spending on retirement rose from 2006 to 2015, state spending on higher education operations fell by over $150 million. Higher education costs are out of control in many states, but Illinois adds an untenable pension crisis to the mix of too many administrators and too much budget bloat.

Whoa! @-) @-)

While administrative costs have skyrocketed, university officials have complained for years about the state’s lack of commitment to higher education, perpetuating a myth that the state’s appropriations have been in steady decline.

But total state funding to higher education has increased by more than 60 percent over the last decade, growing to over $4.1 billion in 2015 from $2.5 billion in 2006. Unfortunately, a majority of that money has gone toward administrative salaries and retirement costs, not classroom instruction.

ACK! @-) @-) @-)

[simba9]

Isn’t Illinois in general having all kinds of issues with financial mismangement? No surprise if the state’s university system is getting caught up in that. I’m not sure I’d overgeneralize that and say all regionals are in trouble.

[mackinaw]

The TITLE of this post is quite misleading. It ought to have the word ILLINOIS in it. All of the “many state universities” mentioned are in Illinois.

While there has been administrative bloat in universities outside of Illinois, something that has been noted in several studies over the years, the problem in Illinois is made far worse by the fact that they appear to have “defined benefit” retirement plans. Most of the universities and colleges that I’m familiar with have “defined contribution” plans. Whereas in defined benefit plans the university bears the full costs of the retirement benefits (both income and probably healthcare supplement to Medicare), in defined contribution plans the university likely has paid a percentage of salary each year (say 5% to 10%) into an annuity provider (e.g., TIAA or Fidelity) and once the faculty member leaves the university all income based on the career comes from the annuity provider (and Social Security), not the university.

[Zinhead]

While the issues in Illinois are extreme compared to the rest of the country, the problems the colleges face are similar those around the country; tuition costs too much for what is offered, and colleges are spending too much on administrative staff.

As for blaming the decline on the current budget, as the following article shows, the enrollment problems started well before the current budget issues.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150815/ISSUE01/308159989/are-illinois-public-universities-doomed

[mackinaw]

Yes, but the title of this thread is misleading. There are plenty of other threads (including ones you have participated in) that have dissected the problem for universities and colleges broadly.

[skieurope]

MODERATOR’S NOTE:

Yes, but the title of this thread is misleading.

I generally dislike editing titles, but I have to agree that’s it’s misleading as originally posted. Edited.