Chicago and Illinois get high marks for the number of students completing college degree programs and the percentage of residents with degrees, but earns failing grades for the spiraling cost of higher education according to a new report by the National Center of Higher Education.
Chicago and Illinois colleges, like colleges across the nation, flunk when it comes to affordability, according to the report. Poor and working-class families must devote 37 percent of their income, even after aid, to pay for costs at two-year colleges, according to the report. For every dollar in Pell Grant aid to students, the state spends 82 cents - down from 89 cents in 1993, despite significant tuition increases.
Peter Sachs of ChiTownDailyNews.org has a rundown of the report.
