Springfield, IL (CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS) – The board that governs higher education in Illinois voted last Wednesday to request $2.7 billion in general revenue funding next year, an increase of $121.6 million, or 4.6%, over the amount lawmakers approved for the current fiscal year.

But that request came at the same time Gov. JB Pritzker announced he was reducing this year’s higher education budget by $30.5 million. That included an announcement that he would not release $29.5 million in higher education funding that lawmakers gave him the power to hold in reserve last May when they approved the current-year budget. 

The move is part of an overall $481.6 million reduction in state agency spending authority Pritzker ordered to address what he called “ongoing economic uncertainty driven by the Trump administration.”

 “We expect that most agencies will not see their funding requests fulfilled – and continued fiscal management in Fiscal Year 2026 will help ensure the ability of the State Agencies to face the challenges expected over the next few years,” the governor’s budget director, Alexis Sturm, said in a letter announcing the reductions.

Both the budget request and Pritzker’s announcement came as disappointing news to union officials who have been urging the IBHE to pressure the administration into releasing the funds that have been held back this year.

“The Illinois Board of Higher Education has failed students and working families once again,” University Professionals of Illinois president John Miller said in a statement. “At a time when Illinois students and families are struggling desperately to afford a university education, the Board’s FY 27 budget recommendation today guarantees even higher tuition and fees and more student debt.”

But IBHE officials defended the request, saying it calls for investments to make higher education affordable for students in Illinois while recognizing the fiscal constraints facing the state.

“The Board has approved a recommended budget for fiscal year 2027 that takes into account the state’s fiscal projections, the fiscal realities of our institutions and our students and families along with the work needed to close equity gaps,” IBHE chairman Pranav Kothari said in a statement. “Even in tight budget years, we must continue to prioritize higher education in Illinois.”

Budget request highlights

Overall, IBHE’s budget request includes a $39.6 million, or 3%, general funds increase in operating funds for state universities and a $10.1 million increase, or 2.4%, for community colleges.

The proposed budget calls for a $50 million increase in the Monetary Award Program, or MAP grants, the state’s primary need-based student financial aid program. That would bring total MAP funding next year to $771.6 million.

It also calls for a $5 million increase in AIM HIGH grant funding, which would bring that program’s total funding to $55 million. AIM HIGH is a scholarship program that is both need- and merit-based. 

According to IBHE, during the 2024-25 academic year, nearly 80% of Illinois students who qualified for Pell grants — the federal government’s primary need-based financial aid program — were able to attend public universities tuition- and fee-free as a result of recent funding increases to the MAP and AIM HIGH grant programs.

“Increased investments to the MAP and AIM HIGH grant programs throughout the last several fiscal years have made our public institutions more affordable for students, and this budget recommends increased investment in both programs.” IBHE Executive Director Ginger Ostro said in a statement.

Equity issues

Within the proposed budget for state universities, IBHE is requesting a $38.3 million increase in general operating funds, or about 3% over this year’s approved funding. 

But the board is also recommending, as it has the last few years, that money be distributed under a formula that would prioritize institutions that serve more low- and moderate-income students who qualify for federal Pell grants.

How Illinois distributes its funding among the state’s 12 public universities has been a subject of strenuous debate in recent years.

Last year, the Illinois Commission on Equitable Public University Funding proposed legislation to overhaul the state’s higher education funding system and replace it with a formula similar to the Evidence-Based Funding formula used for K-12 education. 

That new formula would establish adequacy targets for each institution and give priority in new funding to those schools that are furthest away from their adequacy target.

Lawmakers held hearings on that proposal during the 2025 session. And while IBHE took no official position on it, the bill stalled in a Senate committee, mainly due to opposition from the state’s largest institution, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Robin Steans, executive director of the education advocacy group Advance Illinois and a vocal advocate of the funding overhaul, said in an interview that IBHE’s proposal to distribute new money according to a formula based on student demographics would be a significant step in the right direction.

Steans said IBHE has not taken an official position on the Adequate and Equitable Funding proposal. 

“But I think they are speaking with their feet that they believe that we need to be on a path, and that that path needs to include equity,” she said. IBHE’s budget proposal will be forwarded to Pritzker and the General Assembly for consideration as they put together a state budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Pritzker is scheduled to deliver his overall budget plan to lawmakers on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.