A bit more than a week ago, the New York Times ran an opinion piece on the impact of the ongoing budget crisis on public higher education in Illinois, drawing national attention to the petty, partisan power game between the governor and the legislature.
Personally unaffected by the gridlock and intransigence, they persist -- leaving university communities feeling the pain and suffering the indignities of uncertain futures.
The Times piece discussed the immediate impact on students, especially those deserving of university scholarships and Monetary Award Program (or MAP) grants.
Unfortunately, this loss of support is driving large numbers of current students in good standing to drop out.
An insidious irony of this horror show is the long-lasting economic damage of the inevitable brain-drain.
In addition to promising students robbed of a college education within the state, Illinois is also losing its best prospective university students to Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and elsewhere. How many of the most successful graduates four years hence will choose to build their careers in Illinois?
Similarly, our best and most competitive young faculty are currently given little incentive to stay here.
Public higher education was established on a funding model that was not directly dependent on tuition. Now, without a state budget, tuition is the only reliable source of revenue at the same time that the governor has so sullied the brand of Illinois colleges and universities that enrollments have plummeted.
Governor Rauner, the architect of the standoff, is unaccustomed to not getting his way needs to back off his hard-line stance and end this crisis, given the long-term implications for the state's economy.
I’m Reed Scherer, and that’s my perspective.
