Senate Democrats champion program to streamline Illinois college
applications
[April 04, 2025]
By Jade Aubrey
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Senate Democrats voiced their support Thursday
for a bill that would create a program to streamline high school
students’ college application processes, reducing fees and making higher
education more affordable.
An initiative of Gov. JB Pritzker, the direct admission program is
described as a “one-stop shop” for students that would bypass all
college application fees.
Sen. Christopher Belt, D-Swansea, spoke at a news conference in the
Statehouse, calling the bill “a critical step we’re taking to make
higher education more accessible to students across Illinois.”
“The college admissions process can be a daunting experience, high
school seniors and community college transfer students already have
enough on their plates,” he said. “The last thing that they need is a
complicated application process filled with extra fees, paperwork and
delays.”
Senate Bill 2448 would allow all high school juniors and seniors and
community college students to enroll in the program. The bill would
allow the Illinois Board of Higher Education to send students a single
notification containing all of their admission offers. And students
would be able to accept an offer and enroll at the Illinois university
they choose through the direct admission program.
The bill is still awaiting passage in the Senate.
Students would have to “opt-in” to take part in the program and provide
their contact information and GPAs to the Illinois Student Assistance
Commission. The commission would then apply admission criteria from each
university to find out which universities the student qualifies for
admission at.
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Sen. Christopher Belt discusses a bill that would streamline the
college application processes for Illinois colleges and universities
at a news conference Thursday in the Capitol. (Capitol News Illinois
photo by Jade Aubrey)
Belt praised the program’s time- and cost-saving efficiencies, as
students who use the direct admission program wouldn’t have to
individually apply to every Illinois college, and they wouldn’t be
subject to the standard college application fees at each.
“This means that they won’t have to go through the repeated application
process and pay application fees,” he said. “Instead, they’ll be able to
focus on what matters most, their education and their future.”
All public universities would take part in this program except the
University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign. Those universities would offer a “pre-screened
outreach,” where they would directly invite students to apply.
“We have so many bright, talented young people right here in Illinois,
and we want them to stay here,” Belt said. “We want them to pursue their
education in our state, to get jobs here, raise their families here, and
contribute to the growth and prosperity of our communities.”
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. |
