Barely removed from a two-year state budget stalemate, Illinois' public universities are continuing to feel the sting.
Enrollment at many of the state's public universities dropped this year, particularly among new freshmen wrestling with where to commit for their college educations, data released this month show.
And the closely watched university rankings from U.S. News & World Report published Tuesday showed declines as well, with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—the crown jewel of the state university system—dropping eight spots from last year, from 44 to 52.
Many university leaders have pointed to the unprecedented budget battles in Springfield, which starved public universities of state funding, as a critical factor in the declines. Illinois had operated without a budget since July 2015 until the Democratic-controlled General Assembly overrode Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a spending plan and tax increase on July 6.
Read more at The Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-state-university-enrollment-drops-met-20170912-story.html