(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been making the rounds this week at Illinois colleges and universities to tout his spending plan for higher education.
On Tuesday, Pritzker made a stop at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb.
"My budget for this coming year proposes the largest percent increase for higher ed in more than 20 years, so that way we can tackle college affordability from two angles," he said.
One way, he said, is direct funding to universities to prevent increases in tuition.
"But we're also providing record-breaking numbers of college scholarships in the state, while raising the amount of each grant,” he said. “That's a big deal. That is what is narrowing the gap for many people and making college affordable."
Pritzker said one objective is to make it easier for young people to get a good education in Illinois, which could help make them stay in Illinois after graduation.
State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) was at NIU with Pritzker, and she talked about the importance of continued adequate funding for higher education.
“It’s vital for our state’s overall future that we ensure our public universities have the necessary means to remain competitive by investing in our university system and by providing our Illinois students with opportunities to afford and attend our fine universities like Northern Illinois University,” Rezin said.
The governor told a group of students and administrators at NIU that the increased spending has contributed to increasing freshman class sizes throughout the state.
"It's a result of … getting past Covid, and the resources that we put into [Monetary Award Program] grants and the resources we've sent directly to universities are making a difference," he said.
Among the speakers at Pritzker's appearance at NIU: NIU student Brittany Hernandez, who plans to become a teacher and said a MAP grant gave her hope.
“I am very proud to come from immigrant parents,” Hernandez said. “Neither of them were able to continue their education past the middle school level, so they constantly encouraged both me and my older sister to go to college. But with three younger siblings to raise on low income, I knew that they could never afford to send both me and my sister to college.
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