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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Nearly one million students taking credit,
3non-credit, and community education courses walk through the
4doors of an Illinois community college each year; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Community colleges are the primary provider of
6higher education in Illinois; 65% of all students who are
7enrolled in a public institution of higher education in the
8State attend a community college; and
 
9    WHEREAS, More than two-thirds of all minorities in Illinois
10public higher education attend community colleges; nearly
1115,000 students with disabilities and 62,000 students with
12limited English proficiency are served each year; and
 
13    WHEREAS, College costs are reduced when students are able
14to gain access to college-level coursework during their junior
15and senior years of high school through dual credit; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Community colleges offered 8,780 dual credit
17courses to 82,895 high school students last year; and
 
18    WHEREAS, The average tuition rate per credit hour is nearly
19$119.00 per credit hour; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Of the nearly 165,000 qualified MAP students who
2were turned away due to lack of funds in Fiscal Year 2014,
3almost 75% of them were community college students; and
 
4    WHEREAS, The Illinois Community College System Economic
5Impact Study finds that, on average, all students who completed
6their community college education in Fiscal Year 2011 saw a
7gain of almost $3,600, a 30% increase in earnings over their
8pre-enrollment wages; and
 
9    WHEREAS, In his first State of the State Address, Governor
10Bruce Rauner called for an end to "the era of cutting funding
11for technical training and community colleges"; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Governor Rauner's Fiscal Year 2016 budget
13provides for an investment in our future workforce through K-12
14education and community colleges; and
 
15    WHEREAS, In January of 2015, President Barack Obama
16announced the America's College Promise initiative to provide a
17community college education tuition free to qualified
18students; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The America's College Promise of free community
20college tuition, partnered with proven strategies to support
21student achievement and increase degree completion, would

 

 

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1provide the critical support structures needed to ensure that
2our State and our nation would have an educated workforce
3prepared for the jobs of the future; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
5NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
6urge President Barack Obama and Congress to make federal funds
7available to the Illinois Community College System; and be it
8further
 
9    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
10delivered to the President of the United States, the Speaker of
11the United States House of Representatives, the Majority Leader
12of the United States Senate, and the members of the Illinois
13congressional delegation.