Illinois received an F rating in affordability, along with 42 other states in the nation in the national higher education report card, Measuring Up 2006 report, released by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education in September.

“The future of higher education is not a good one at this point because no state is putting a priority on it,” said State Rep. Chapin Rose (R-Mohomet). “That’s a problem for our country.”

The report said the portion of college expenses paid for with family income has increased from 25 to 35 percent in “the past several years,” and that in 2005, the average undergraduate student borrowed $3,770 to help pay for school.

“Gov. Blagojevich has cut (higher education) funding for three out of the last four years,” Rose said.

With less state funding, higher education institutions have to pack classrooms with students, cut costs or raise tuition to operate, Rose said. “In the case of most state universities, it is all three.”

Despite lower ratings in affordability and preparation since the last report in 2004, Illinois did move up from eighth to fifth place in overall “class rank” of the fifty states. Illinois received higher grades in completion and benefits.

However, Rose said that no matter how well the state is doing in other areas, affordability is the important issue.

“In so many ways Illinois is doing some things right,” he said, naming Eastern as the most efficient four-year university in Illinois. “But none of the above discussion matters if no one can pay for it.”

Jill Nilsen, vice-president for external relations said Illinois higher education needs to continue to look for sources of revenue.

“We want to ensure that our students have access to higher education,” she said. “Investment in higher education is an investment in the future.”

Because without affordable higher education, society would be hard-pressed to provide services like health care, litigation and education without trained professionals.

“We continue at Eastern to try and provide the best quality education we can at a cost that is affordable for our students,” Nilsen said.

The national report cards are released every two years and focus on six performance categories that are used to inform the public and policy-makers how higher education is fairing and how it might be improved.

“It’s a way to look at higher education across the United States to provide some comparable measures to evaluate what we’re doing,” Nilsen said.