A new bill in Springfield would provide a roadmap to make higher education more affordable and competitive.
A new bill in Springfield calls for a study of Illinois’ higher education system and a 10-year plan to make it more competitive and affordable.
House Bill 5037, introduced by state Rep. Jeff Keicher, would require the Illinois Board of Higher Education to determine the drivers behind the rising costs at state universities.
After producing that study, the board would be charged with developing a comprehensive, 10-year plan to ensure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the state’s public universities by the end of March 2027.
The plan would include assessing affordability, ensuring that state funding supports educational outcomes and supporting long-term economic and workforce goals.
Despite Illinois providing $24,562 per student in state funding for four-year public universities, second-highest in the nation and more than double the national average, in-state tuition is among the most expensive in the nation.
In-state tuition and fees in Illinois ranked second-highest in the Midwest and ninth in the nation in 2025, according to the Education Data Initiative.
That’s due to the average increase in in-state tuition and fees at Illinois public universities, which rose 66%, outpacing inflation. That’s from 2009 to 2025, an increase of about $6,000 a year.
As tuition and fees have climbed, overall enrollment at Illinois’ dozen public universities has declined, with the system serving about 13,000 fewer students than it did two decades ago.
Enrollment fell for nine of the 12 universities from 2006 to 2025, with half losing more than a third of their students according to data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
Thanks to Illinois’ higher education funding model, the universities that lost the largest share of students saw the largest increases in per-pupil funding, while the universities attracting more students lost the most.
With future enrollment predicted to plummet by nearly one-third in Illinois by 2041 because of declining birth rates and demographic changes, the price tag for funding higher education could continue to climb. That’s why Illinois needs a roadmap today for sustainable higher education.
HB 5037 would give Illinoisans transparency on the financial challenges facing higher education while ensuring the state develops a plan to make its public universities more affordable and more competitive with neighboring schools.
The bill awaits a hearing in the House Rules committee.
