Illinois Connection Advocates –

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed a 31.5 percent fiscal 2016 budget cut for higher education. A reduction of that magnitude would mean nearly a $209 million cut in state funding to the University of Illinois. Such a large-scale reduction would have a significant impact on academic quality, operational capacity, competitive strength and the value of a University of Illinois degree.

You will soon receive an Illinois Connection CALL TO ACTION email providing you with information to help make a strong case to support the University and keep its quality intact before the governor and the General Assembly make a final budget determination. Educational investment is good for the state’s economy and all of its citizens.

Understanding the state's fiscal situation, University leaders are working with state officials to develop funding approaches and regulatory policies that will sustain the University as an economic engine and advance its excellence in achieving its mission to educate, research and innovate; provide public service; and generate economic development.

Here are some important benefits of state investment in the University to keep in mind and to share with your associates, community members and elected officials:

• For every dollar in direct appropriations it receives, the U of I leverages more than $4.00 in non-state funding.
• The University’s spinoff UI Labs initiative secured $320 million to establish the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute–a first-of-its-kind manufacturing hub in Chicago that will transform U.S. manufacturing.
• In fiscal 2014, the University received more than $914 million in research funding, which leads to new technologies, innovations, startup companies, jobs and economic growth.
• University of Illinois students come from 101 Illinois counties, and more than 1.5 million Illinois residents participate in Illinois Extension programs each year.
• In Illinois, one in three pharmacists, more than 40 percent of the dentists and one in six physicians graduated from UIC, which has the largest medical college enrollments in the nation.
• The U of I now provides more need-based financial aid to its students than the state of Illinois does through the MAP grant program or the federal government does through the Pell grant program.

Can the state of Illinois really afford to diminish the impact and excellence of the University of Illinois?

Add your voice to the thousands of other Illinois Connection advocates and let our state representatives know we need a strong University of Illinois in order to restore a strong state of Illinois.

Watch your inbox for the CALL TO ACTION email, and thank you for your advocacy!

Loren R. Taylor
President and CEO
University of Illinois Alumni Association