Lawmaker, unions at odds over tuition waivers

[March 16, 2015]  By: Mark Fitton  

SPRINGFIELD — A suburban legislator has softened his proposal to end a partial tuition waiver for the children of state university personnel, but influential unions remain opposed.

State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Oswego, is the sponsor of House Bill 403, which would end the 50-percent tuition waiver for children of university employees with seven or more years of service.

Franks this week amended his bill to delay elimination of the waiver until after the 2015-16 academic year and to allow students who now have a waiver to keep it until they graduate or have received the waiver for four years.

University Professionals of Illinois and the Illinois Federation of Teachers are among those who oppose the measure, and Franks said he understands their position.

“They’re opinion is that this this is something they bargained for, this is something they worked for, and this is something they should be able to keep,” Franks said.

“And they make a strong argument, certainly, but it’s a different world than what we had just a few years ago, with the governor now talking about cutting almost $400 million from higher education.”
One difference between Franks and the UPI is whether the estimated $10 million cost is a “real” expense or “hard” cost, as the state does not reimburse the universities for the waivers.

Franks and others who do not support the waivers say while the state may not have to spend cash to fully educate 2,000 students at half price, there’s still certainly an outlay by state-funded schools.
If universities do lose funding along the lines proposed in Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget plan, they will have to raise tuition or cut costs, or both, and they haven’t shown much desire to cut costs, Franks argued.

Considering the funding loss, he says removing a cost that would contribute further to tuition increases is only fair to taxpayers and students as a whole.

The union says the program helps not only keep qualified Illinois students in Illinois universities, it help keeps high-quality personnel here.
UPI also says many of those students would be unable to otherwise afford college, and the elimination of the program would not put full-tuition-paying students in seats that would be left empty.

In a news release, UPI quotes John Miller, a communication professor at Western Illinois University and an Illinois Federation of Teachers vice president.

“We strongly oppose HB 403 because it is a callous attack on university employees, and their children and will have a negative overall impact on our schools and the students they serve,” Miller said.

He said “the vast majority of waivers go to the children of support personnel, who will no longer be able to attend Illinois universities without this program.”

Besides putting students in seats, the unions argue the waivers encourage employees to stay with state schools and reduce recruitment, hiring and training costs, ultimately saving the universities money.
Franks said the bill gives him no pleasure, but hard decisions are needed in hard times. He plans to call the bill for a vote next week in the House committee on state government administration.

[This article courtesy of Watchdog.]