A common concern has echoed throughout the Illinois Board of Higher Education summit: There isn’t enough money.

“It’s all a matter of revenue,” said Representative Richard Myers.

More than 200 Illinois lawmakers, state government officials, business leaders and higher education leaders met yesterday to discuss the future of higher education.

The summit consisted of five panel discussions that examined issues such as how well high school students are prepared for college, improving support for minorities, the income gap, state funding and why higher education is important.

Adjusted for inflation, tuition and fees have risen 25 to 31 percent since academic year 1999 at secondary public institutions, reported the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Not adjusted for inflation, tuitions and fees have risen 59 percent for public universities since 1996.

Part of this is because, state funding for higher education has not increased since fiscal year 2001.

Higher education has been hurt at the expense of K-12, not because legislators don’t care, but because of fiscal restraint, said Senator Michael de Valle. (D-Chicago)

Attending legislators encouraged higher education leaders to come forward with their concerns, but realize that politicians have their own agendas.

“When you go to Springfield, don’t pretend everything is rosey, if it’s not rosey,” said Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Springfield. (D-springfield)

Governor’s Office Director of Education Reform Elliot Regenstein said that nationally, higher education is not answering the question of why the next dollar should be spent on higher education.

“(Higher education) has to be the ones to explain it to the people,” he said.

Republican Rep. Richard Myers from Macomb agreed.

“The legislature is not ones who need to be convinced,” he said. “We know the value of higher education.”

However, legislators have different priorities when trying agree on how that value should be defined in dollar amounts, Myers added.

President of Boeing Richard Stevens told higher education leaders that he is not looking to employ students with 4.0 GPAs and who know the textbook answers.

He told a story about how in an interview a student told him he just wanted a job, that he would do whatever was needed.

“That answer doesn’t cut it,” he said. Instead, Stevens wants to employ people who are going to bring value to their positions.

Three students represented Illinois students at the summit. Adam Howell, Eastern’s student senate speaker and Student Advisory Committee vice chair, Danielle Gaines SAC executive secretary from University of Illinois; and Ashley Dearborn SAC delegate from Moraine Valley Community College.

“If you look at students across the country, historically, university students are the most active in showing concern for issues and causes than any other demographic,” Howell said. “I think that right there shows how its not the fact that sudents don’t care, its the fact that the forces that they should care about are putting them down.”

Jill Nilsen, Eastern’s vice president for external relations was pleased with how the summit went.

“I thought today’s discussion was a productive one,” she said.