The past week saw some interesting action in Illinois around higher education.  Here's a round-up of the latest developments.

The real decline in higher ed funding

The Illinois budget crisis is taking its toll on state universities. For months, students, administrators, and faculty members at our public universities have raised their voices about the obstacles they face thanks to delayed appropriations. (According to the latest count, the state owes its nine institutions $900 million in back payments.) The pain will extend into FY 2011, as well. Even if Gov. Pat Quinn's one-point income tax increase is passed, his budget proposal provides no way to pay for the existing backlog of carryover debt.  And without that new revenue, annual funding for universities and community colleges could drop by $94 million.

While the fiscal crunch has placed debilitating burdens on educators, it's not as if the state put too much stock in higher education when times were brighter. This latest evidence comes from John Jackson, a visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. Earlier this week, he released a report (PDF) tracking the declining state support for higher ed operations in the past 15 years. His data shows that universities have suffered "dramatic losses" in their buying power when adjusted for inflation. Since FY 1997, state allocations have actually dropped $137 million in real dollars. Below is a chart we whipped up tracking the data:

Nonetheless, enrollment continues to grow and, as such, schools have been forced to raise tuition and fees to fill in the gaps. The average net cost of a four-year public school reached a whopping 35 percent of the state’s median family income in 2008 -- a 16 percent boost since 2000. It's no wonder that the class of 2008 in 2008 graduated with an average $20,102 in student debt.

Lost without a MAP

That average debt load could grow larger if the state doesn't bolster its Monetary Award Program. It's been clear for some time that the initiative -- which provides need-based scholarships to thousands of Illinois students -- requires more financial support.  In 2000, the maximum award amount was $4,530 (PDF). Ten years later, the state has increased that ceiling by just $438 dollars. In real terms, the average now covers just about 40 percent of overall tuition and fees, a ratio that has declined 25 percent since the beginning of the decade.

At the same time, demand for the awards -- thanks to the rising cost of college and the recession -- is skyrocketing. After moving up its filing deadline, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission exhausted its MAP reserves this week after offering awards to 189,000 applicants. That means 220,000 eligible applications will likely go unfunded. Only 137,000 awards are expected to be claimed during the upcoming academic year, down from 144,230 two years prior.

After being forced to authorize $205 million in funding to keep the program solvent last year, Gov. Pat Quinn's 2011 budget proposal preserves the current level of funding. While they would have surely predicted an uptick in spending, the Illinois Board of Education applauded the move, expressing relief that the program wasn't facing serious cuts. When the budget negotiations move forward, however, keep an eye on this line item, as it's not clear that lawmakers agree on a permanent funding source.

Sandoval's audit

Speaking of the General Assembly, State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) held a press conference in Springfield yesterday in which he announced the establishement of an education subcommittee that will hold hearings on the rising cost of tuition at Illinois public universities. He also touted a resolution he authored (SR 683) that would require the state's auditor general to examine the budgets of all nine institutions. Here's a video the Senate Dems posted about the announcement:

Sandoval intends to subpoena university officials to "provide testimony about rising tuition costs, housing and housing allowances provided to administrators, pay raises for administrators, faculty and staff, and 50 percent tuition waivers provided to children of some university employees." Certainly, in these tough economic times, every public institution should look for ways to tighten its belt. But we're skeptical that housing allowances for university staffers -- rather than the support provided by the state itself -- is the primary cause of the tuition frenzy.