The University of Illinois Board of Trustees today approved the expansion of a pilot program that allows the University of Illinois Springfield to offer in-state tuition to select out-of-state residents in counties adjacent to Illinois.
By authorizing UIS to market in-state tuition to six additional counties in Indiana, Iowa and Missouri, the board is ensuring the university can remain competitive in a market where other regional universities are expanding their footprint and offering such rates to nonresident students.
“The University of Illinois Springfield has an outstanding reputation among its peers, named the top public regional university in Illinois for the past six years by U.S. News & World Report,” system President Tim Killeen said. “Expanding access to shoulder counties is one strategy that will allow us to offer both an excellent education and more affordable tuition to potential UIS students from geographically proximate regions.”
Currently, nine of the 12 regional public universities in the state of Illinois offer resident tuition rates to adjacent states. The U of I System initiated a three-year pilot program in 2023 to offer UIS resident-tuition rates to students in St. Charles and St. Louis counties in Missouri, including much of the St. Louis metropolitan area; and Scott County in Iowa, which includes the Davenport area.
The expansion approved today adds Lake, LaPorte and Porter counties in Indiana; Clinton and Muscatine counties in Iowa; and Marion County in Missouri. The addition of 104 high schools brings the total number in the pilot program to 255.
The pilot program is only available to students attending the University of Illinois Springfield, not at the other two U of I System universities in Urbana and Chicago.
In other business the board:
- Delegated authority to each U of I System university’s chancellor to develop and implement policies regarding the administration of name, image and likeness compensation of student-athletes. Beginning with the 2025-26 academic year, it is anticipated that changes to the athletics environment will result in a new compensation model for student-athletes focused on stability and fairness. The 2021 state law that established opportunities for Illinois student-athletes to earn NIL compensation was amended in January to allow the state’s colleges and universities to enter into NIL agreements with their own student-athletes when done pursuant to a legal settlement or an institutional policy. Today’s action creates flexibility and efficiency for the system universities to individualize their respective strategies in this rapidly evolving landscape. Any compensation to student-athletes would be funded by athletic department revenues, not by state appropriations or tuition.
- Welcomed new trustee Suzet McKinney, a nationally recognized public health expert and medical executive. Pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate, she will fill the seat vacated by Donald J. Edwards for a term extending through Jan. 20, 2031. A Chicago resident, McKinney earned a doctorate in public health from the University of Illinois Chicago with a focus on preparedness planning, leadership and workforce development.
- Approved a request from the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to establish four new departments: cardiovascular medicine and surgery; neurology and neurosurgery; oncology; and surgery and digestive health. The college currently has two departments: biomedical and translational sciences; and clinical sciences. The new departments serve to align clinical sciences by specialties.
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The University of Illinois System is a world leader in research and discovery, and the largest educational institution in the state with more than 97,700 students, about 28,000 full-time equivalent faculty and staff, and universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield. The U of I System awards more than 27,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees annually.
