An email from the Alum association today noted Illinois is the 2nd largest exporter of high school students in the nation. That is a lot of quality talent that Illinois loses to other universities that potentially become donor's to those schools and thereby supporting other states financially instead of Illinois. Not to mention, they may go to job fairs at those schools and get pumped into their local/state economy instead of coming back to contribute to Illinois in the job market.

Hopefully this metric is another feather in NIU's hat in which we can lobby Springfield for more funding to make NIU as an in-state school more attractive in future years. This would benefit both the academic side as well as the athletic side, wanting to be aligned with a more prominent conference with larger institutions.

This isn't surprising at all. I'd be interested in which state is number one, probably NY would be my guess.

However, most Illinois kids come back to Illinois jobs afterward. It's there get away from home for a bit experience.

You really can't fault many considering the cost of education in Illinois and so many area schools try to get Illinois students. Iowa, ND, Michigan, IU, etc.

I went to a small high school and many of the kids in my class went to small liberal arts schools in Iowa or Iowa State. Even though we grew up on the Illinois side, Iowa and Iowa state were cheaper than U of I. Iowa state was also cheaper than niu but Iowa wasn't. My girlfriend is from st charles as was my college roommate and I lived there for three summers and most of my st charles friends left the state.

They can go to good schools, for a pretty good price, and still get away from home but also be relatively close. I don't see this changing anytime soon.

Here's the full text of that email from today (a letter from President Baker):

Keeping NIU Accessible and Affordable

It is no secret that for more than a decade, cuts in state higher education funding have led to an increasing dependence on student dollars to finance university enterprises across the country, and Illinois has been no exception. During that time, college tuition and fee costs have increased 40 percent more than the average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Simply put, prices for higher education have reached the point where America’s middle class is beginning to get squeezed out of higher education. We can’t let this happen. In fact, we need to explore innovative ways to reduce costs to students and increase opportunity for social mobility.

At Northern Illinois University, we have actively undertaken efforts to hold the line in terms of cost of attendance, which for the purpose of this report equals tuition + fees + room & board. Last year, by dropping room rates, NIU was able to hold that cost constant.
During Thursday’s NIU Board of Trustees Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee meeting, the committee discussed recommendations that will streamline and simplify the university pricing structure, resulting in a system that encourages college completion by capping tuition costs for new students at 12 credit hours. What this means is that incoming students would pay the same tuition cost if they take 12 credit hours, 15 hours or 18 or more hours. In fact, a new student enrolled in 16 hours would pay about $200 less in tuition than the previous year.

Another result of this plan is that tuition costs per credit hour would drop for every returning student, and tuition costs would be capped at 14 credit hours, again encouraging students to enroll in more classes per semester.

Third, the recommendation contains a restructuring of the fee mechanism that results in a simpler, easier-to-understand bill that is intended to provide more clarity.

Finally, the recommendations include elimination of the most costly meal plan, meaning the published room and board rate would drop by $800.

If approved by the full board in December, these changes would be effective for the Fall 2015 semester. We want our students to complete their degrees in four years. And by capping tuition costs, we encourage students to take larger course loads and receive greater value while making more progress toward their degree.

This is big. The state of Illinois is the second largest exporter of high school students in the country. And by making a college degree more affordable for the residents of our state, it is our hope we can make a quality NIU education more accessible for those in the region we serve.

Forward Together,

(11-07-2014 07:15 PM)niuaccy1976 Wrote:  Here's the full text of that email from today (a letter from President Baker):

Keeping NIU Accessible and Affordable

It is no secret that for more than a decade, cuts in state higher education funding have led to an increasing dependence on student dollars to finance university enterprises across the country, and Illinois has been no exception. During that time, college tuition and fee costs have increased 40 percent more than the average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Simply put, prices for higher education have reached the point where America’s middle class is beginning to get squeezed out of higher education. We can’t let this happen. In fact, we need to explore innovative ways to reduce costs to students and increase opportunity for social mobility.

At Northern Illinois University, we have actively undertaken efforts to hold the line in terms of cost of attendance, which for the purpose of this report equals tuition + fees + room & board. Last year, by dropping room rates, NIU was able to hold that cost constant.
During Thursday’s NIU Board of Trustees Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee meeting, the committee discussed recommendations that will streamline and simplify the university pricing structure, resulting in a system that encourages college completion by capping tuition costs for new students at 12 credit hours. What this means is that incoming students would pay the same tuition cost if they take 12 credit hours, 15 hours or 18 or more hours. In fact, a new student enrolled in 16 hours would pay about $200 less in tuition than the previous year.

Another result of this plan is that tuition costs per credit hour would drop for every returning student, and tuition costs would be capped at 14 credit hours, again encouraging students to enroll in more classes per semester.

Third, the recommendation contains a restructuring of the fee mechanism that results in a simpler, easier-to-understand bill that is intended to provide more clarity.

Finally, the recommendations include elimination of the most costly meal plan, meaning the published room and board rate would drop by $800.

If approved by the full board in December, these changes would be effective for the Fall 2015 semester. We want our students to complete their degrees in four years. And by capping tuition costs, we encourage students to take larger course loads and receive greater value while making more progress toward their degree.

This is big. The state of Illinois is the second largest exporter of high school students in the country. And by making a college degree more affordable for the residents of our state, it is our hope we can make a quality NIU education more accessible for those in the region we serve.

Forward Together,

That's a nice deal. By capping the tuition, it gives students an incentive to load up and graduate on time.... instead of going on the Cawoo plan that leads to your buddies chanting "SEVEN YEARS!" as you shake hands with the university president at graduation.

It's nice to see Baker at least acknowledging this. It burns my ass that in-state tuition in Illinois is barely competitive with out-of-state tuition in neighboring states. And it's not like that's a new phenomenon. That goes back to at least my time in the early nineties.

That is an alarming stat. I do know that WMU focuses heavily on the greater Chicago area. We used to be able to rely on the Detroit area for the bulk of our enrollment. Obviously times are different.

One thing that I've found interesting is that WMU tells it's out of state students to establish in state residency by getting a Michigan drivers license. This avoids out of state tuition which is higher.

(11-08-2014 11:14 AM)EA3 Wrote:  That is an alarming stat. I do know that WMU focuses heavily on the greater Chicago area. We used to be able to rely on the Detroit area for the bulk of our enrollment. Obviously times are different.

One thing that I've found interesting is that WMU tells it's out of state students to establish in state residency by getting a Michigan drivers license. This avoids out of state tuition which is higher.

KU does this too, but it's sort of tricky.. To get the license You need to be able to claim that you live with in the state of Kansas - have it be A piece of mail or something that proves residency .

(11-08-2014 11:14 AM)EA3 Wrote:  That is an alarming stat. I do know that WMU focuses heavily on the greater Chicago area. We used to be able to rely on the Detroit area for the bulk of our enrollment. Obviously times are different.

One thing that I've found interesting is that WMU tells it's out of state students to establish in state residency by getting a Michigan drivers license. This avoids out of state tuition which is higher.

Yep. (Technically, this is true of other Michigan schools, CMU etc...)

Iowa also welcomes out-of-state students with significant discounts for slightly "above-average" grades & ACT scores.

Indiana (& Purdue) and Wisconsin Tuition rates are great for in-state. Alas, U of I doesn't do much for it's in state students. But that can be attributed to the shape our fine state is in....which is another Topic/Thread entirely.

So if I were an incoming frosh heading to NIU (that's actually a fun thought, but also scary that I'd hypothetically enroll there), could I establish residency and get in state tuition?

(11-08-2014 12:46 PM)EA3 Wrote:  So if I were an incoming frosh heading to NIU (that's actually a fun thought, but also scary that I'd hypothetically enroll there), could I establish residency and get in state tuition?

On a fundamental level, yes. I know there are exceptions for each state so it may vary. For example (and correct me if I am wrong because I am going off memory), if Missouri students live (rent) in state for 12 months and work over the summer while school is no in session they can attain in-state tuition.

I'm fairly certain all WMU requires is a Michigan drivers license or ID card. And I think you can get one of those your first day on campus

All you need are two forms of documentation to establish residency. A copy of a lease or rental agreement and an account statement from a bank. So I suppose worst case scenario, they would pay one semester of out of state tuition

Clearly it would be huge for NIU if both the State and state of Illinois desired having two large, well-funded state universities. As a new resident to Illinois, I would support that mission.

(11-07-2014 07:15 PM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  This isn't surprising at all. I'd be interested in which state is number one, probably NY would be my guess.

However, most Illinois kids come back to Illinois jobs afterward. It's there get away from home for a bit experience.

You really can't fault many considering the cost of education in Illinois and so many area schools try to get Illinois students. Iowa, ND, Michigan, IU, etc.

I went to a small high school and many of the kids in my class went to small liberal arts schools in Iowa or Iowa State. Even though we grew up on the Illinois side, Iowa and Iowa state were cheaper than U of I. Iowa state was also cheaper than niu but Iowa wasn't. My girlfriend is from st charles as was my college roommate and I lived there for three summers and most of my st charles friends left the state.

They can go to good schools, for a pretty good price, and still get away from home but also be relatively close. I don't see this changing anytime soon.

Love to see some numbers on this. Or is it purely anecdotal?

I don't think anyone's answered this, yet, but I believe New Jersey is the largest exporter of college students. They have the same problem as Illinois -- they are a large, wealthy, well-educated state with only one top-tier public university (Rutgers).

That is one of the reasons that the B1G wanted Rutgers in their conference -- greater access to New Jersey recruits, both athletes and students.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/educ...story.html

(11-08-2014 01:43 PM)niusfactuary Wrote:  

(11-07-2014 07:15 PM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  This isn't surprising at all. I'd be interested in which state is number one, probably NY would be my guess.

However, most Illinois kids come back to Illinois jobs afterward. It's there get away from home for a bit experience.

You really can't fault many considering the cost of education in Illinois and so many area schools try to get Illinois students. Iowa, ND, Michigan, IU, etc.

I went to a small high school and many of the kids in my class went to small liberal arts schools in Iowa or Iowa State. Even though we grew up on the Illinois side, Iowa and Iowa state were cheaper than U of I. Iowa state was also cheaper than niu but Iowa wasn't. My girlfriend is from st charles as was my college roommate and I lived there for three summers and most of my st charles friends left the state.

They can go to good schools, for a pretty good price, and still get away from home but also be relatively close. I don't see this changing anytime soon.

Love to see some numbers on this. Or is it purely anecdotal?

It's based on my experiences with friends and acquaintances that went to school out of state. I can think of only 1 friend of mine that went out of state and didn't come back to an Illinois job.

No numbers, but I think it's kind of logical, it's the largest job market in the Midwest, and no offense to other big ten and MAC schools in different states, but chicago and the state of Illinois are going to have better/higher paying jobs in general.

(11-08-2014 01:06 PM)EA3 Wrote:  All you need are two forms of documentation to establish residency. A copy of a lease or rental agreement and an account statement from a bank. So I suppose worst case scenario, they would pay one semester of out of state tuition

I'm not sure, but I think that if you enroll as out of state, then you'd have to take a semester off 'find a place to live' and then re-enroll.