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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The cost of attending a public university in the
3 United States, even after subtracting out aid and inflation,
4 rose more than 15 percent in the last five years, according to
5 the College Board; and
 
6     WHEREAS, In Illinois alone, the average annual percent
7 increase in tuition and fees from the period 2004-2009 was
8 79.3%; and
9     WHEREAS, At public institutions, tuition has generally
10 been driven up by rising spending on administrators, student
11 support services, and the need to make up for reductions in
12 government subsidies, according to a report issued by the Delta
13 Cost Project, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.; and
 
14     WHEREAS, At public institutions especially, the current
15 economic troubles will likely only accelerate the trend of
16 rising prices and classroom cutbacks; and
 
17     WHEREAS, According to a study of tuition and fee trends
18 conducted by the College Board, the largest dollar increase in
19 published in-state four-year college tuition in 2008-09 was
20 $915 in Illinois; and
 
21     WHEREAS, Under this same study, Illinois' tuition and fee

 

 

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1 increases ranked fifth overall in the nation at $10,014; and
 
2     WHEREAS, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
3 approved at least 98 sabbaticals for this year and the
4 beginning of next year; professors will be off from 4 1/2
5 months to a year, most at 100 percent pay; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Meanwhile, tuition at SIU Edwardsville is going up
7 6 percent and 4.5 percent at the Carbondale campus; and
 
8     WHEREAS, Courses not taught mean less revenue for the
9 school and a lost opportunity for students; and
 
10     WHEREAS, Even if sabbaticals are important to a professor's
11 ongoing professional development, this is the wrong time to be
12 granting so many of them; and
 
13     WHEREAS, Southern Illinois University President Glenn
14 Poshard recently said that Southern Illinois University will
15 get $14 million less from the State this year than it did in
16 2002; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Kent State University in Ohio in February canceled
18 60 paid sabbaticals for the 2009-2010 school year to save
19 money; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
2 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that it
3 is imperative that universities be fiscally conservative now
4 and set an example consistent with the business world by either
5 eliminating sabbaticals or sharply cutting them back; and be it
6 further
 
7     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
8 presented to the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the
9 presidents of all the public universities in Illinois.