UIS studying accelerated degree potential

When interim University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry asked college officials to find out what it would take to create an accelerated degree program, he kick-started the process at all three U of I campuses.

But University of Illinois Springfield provost Harry Berman said the three-year degree idea is “relative to the traditional full-time student.”

“It’s a matter of affordability for higher education, which is a big concern for all of us,” said Berman. “We’d have to look and see what majors we could do it in.”

Berman's comments were featured in a April 4, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

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20100404-SJR-UIS-studying-accelerated-degree.pdf

Time, and money, running out for MAP college aid program

At the University of Illinois Springfield, Gerard Joseph, director of financial assistance, said 259 eligible students missed the MAP application deadline last year. A total of 845 out of 4,900 students received MAP grants this year, up from 827 last academic year.

“That’s going to become a very critical factor,” Joseph said when asked about students losing money by missing the cutoff.

Returning students will generally be better off financially than freshmen, because tuition rates already are locked in for returning students. University of Illinois officials have suggested tuition could go up by 20 percent next year.

Joseph's comments were featured in a April 2, 2010, article in the State Journal-Register.

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20100402-SJR-Time-and-money-running-out.pdf

What's Illinois voters' mood?

Democrats hold an iron grip on Illinois state government, control both U.S. Senate seats and occupy 12 of the state’s 19-seat delegation in the House of Representatives.

Illinois, remains solidly in that Democrats’ column, said Christopher Mooney, a professor with the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The state has a lot of union members who tend to vote Democratic and are bolstered by the party in return.

“The political culture here is not ideological. It’s all about where you are pouring concrete, providing services,” he said. Solidly Democrat Chicago still “dominates state politics.”

Given the political makeup of the state, minority Republicans won’t be able to make much headway on national issues like the Obama administration’s passage of health care reform, said Charles Wheeler, director of the Public Affairs Reporting graduate program at the university.

Mooney and Wheeler's comments were featured in a April 5, 2010, article in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier.

Download a PDF of the article:
20100405-JJC-What's-Illinois-voters'-mood.pdf