College is not cheap, that is no lie.

Between 1997 and 2007, tuition rose 106 percent at public universities and 76 percent at private universities, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

With the cost of college rising dramatically every year, it makes college an even hazier reality for students.

The faculty senate will address this crisis in its forum “Funding Public Education: Who Pays and How,” which aims to broadly consider the topic of state funding for higher education. Derek Markley, Charles Delman and Walter McMahon will lead the panel.

McMahon, an emeritus economic professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign, spent seven years working on his novel “Higher Learning, Greater Good: The Private and Social Benefits of Higher Education.”

During the panel, he will share his research from the book, which explains not only the market outcome of higher education, but the private and social benefits as well.

When examining the private benefits, McMahon said he believes that health, longevity, happiness and most importantly, creativity can be measured.

Social benefits include those to society and future generations, civic assistance, contributions to a lower crime rate and even lower medical cost to the state.

This is possible because people who are better educated are more likely to be aware of their health and be responsible in their lifestyle, which lowers the hospital benefits, which can reduce Medicaid costs, McMahon said.

“The benefits for higher education are greater than people realize,” McMahon said.

In fact, four-year college graduates earned nearly 40 percent more in 2008 than those with just a high school diploma, the Chicago Sun -Times said.

The true rate of return for graduates with a bachelor’s degree is 11 percent, which is above the 10 percent benchmark, McMahon said.

However, when the additional private and social benefits are accounted for, there is actually a 34 percent return, which he said will cover the cost of higher education every three years.

Mathematics professor Delman, who is a member of the State Higher Education Finance Study Commission, convened this summer by the State Legislature to study alternate models for funding higher education in Illinois.

Delman said that his hope for the commission is to look at higher education and how it fits into a larger context.

Markley, special assistant to President Bill Perry, will share his expertise on funding principles and models used by other states.

He wanted to clarify that despite his position at the university, his role on the panel will not be reflecting the administration’s views, rather than his own.

From his experience, Markley wants to add another personal viewpoint on performance accountability and how to give more control locally.

From the commission, he hopes the university will be able to push more strategies forward for affordability and to achieve more campus autonomy to make up for the lack of state funding.

“We’re realistic enough to know that we will not be receiving more money towards higher education from the state,” Markley said.

Jon Coit, history professor and Faculty Senate recorder, helped to organize the panel and advocates for the discussion because of the lack of action on the legislature’s behalf.

“It’s atrocious and unconscionable how the state has skated by,” he said.

Coit argues that the fiscal crises that public universities faced last year are a culmination of 30 years of disregard.

Earlier this year, the Truth in Tuition Act amended the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require certain institutions of higher education to commit to, and provide notice of, tuition levels for students.

Coit said a problem with this act is that it does not allow administration to manage risk. It leads to more significant increases in tuition.

Coit said that there is a dollar-to-dollar correlation for every dollar that the state does not pay, the university has to make magically appear. He recognizes that the administration is doing everything they can to keep Eastern a competitive higher education facility, but does not know how long this will last.

“I don’t know how much longer we can keep pulling rabbits out of the hat,” Coit said.

This forum’s discussions will serve as the basis for a resolution on higher education funding to be debated at Faculty Senate, and transmitted, if passed, to the commission and other faculty senates in the state.

The panel will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the University Ballroom in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Union.

Shelley Holmgren can be reached at 581-7942 or meholmgren@eiu.edu.