Publications

Presently, the COVID-19 crisis has further exposed the inequities in our higher education system. This report examines how a pattern of disinvestment and underfunding in higher education by our state during past fiscal crises has driven persistent and widening inequities and offers lawmakers a new playbook for making more equity-centered higher education appropriations.

This study has three companion reports: Priced Out: Black Students; Priced Out: Latinx Students; and Priced Out: Rural Students. The reports provide insight into how disparities in access, cost, and ability to pay are creating barriers for Illinois students across the state and recommends policy action to start reversing these trends.

College enrollment and completion in the Chicago area are being limited by access and cost issues tied to race, family wealth and income, and the availability of financial aid. This report offers an examination of enrollment, attainment, and completion in the seven-county metropolitan Chicago area.

Developmental education was intended to be a pathway to college-level coursework. Waiting even one more year means another 60,000 students will be enrolled in developmental education, most of whom will never advance to college-level coursework.

Illinois has responded to changing student demographics and trends, in part, by formalizing a robust transfer system in state policy. As a result, Illinois is now the leader in bachelor’s degree completion for students who begin at a community college.

There is real opportunity in Illinois for policy leaders committed to improving postsecondary success, to champion targeted strategies and innovative models that increase college access and completion, particularly for low-income and first generation students, and students of colo

The report is a meta-analysis that draws from public data and published studies to highlight trends that have broad implications in Illinois, where nearly half of high school graduates are low-income and over 40 percent are black or Latino. The data paints a grim picture of the achievement gaps between rich and poor.

Reports and Briefs

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