Stories by Vimbai Chikomo, Illinois News Network on Madison - St. Clair Record

Many families concerned with the unpredictability of future tuition rates in Illinois have turned to pre-paid tuition programs, hoping for some kind of guarantee they will be able to afford their children’s tuition when the time comes.

Hoping to benefit from Illinois’ economic hardships, public universities in states bordering Illinois have aggressively sought to recruit Illinois students in recent years.

As college students across Illinois’ nine public universities make their way to their respective campuses in the days ahead, few may realize just how little of their tuition is going directly toward instructional spending for the 2016-17 academic year.