Eight state lawmakers have filed legislation that would guarantee the University of Illinois multi-year funding in exchange for limits on tuition increases and other benchmarks. The Democrats and Republicans filed the bill as university trustees met in Chicago and passed a resolution supporting it.
The bill would lock in appropriations for the university for five years starting with $662 million in 2018 and changing based only on inflation. The university would make only inflation-based increases in tuition for in-state undergraduates.
Democratic state Sen. Bill Cunningham said the bill would help ensure the state is getting "real results" from the three-campus university system. University President Timothy Killeen said the legislation would eliminate annual budget uncertainty. Killeen has pushed the plan in part as a response to the state-budget crisis.
