COLLINSVILLE – This week, state Rep. Katie Stuart joined members of the Illinois House Higher Education Committee for a public hearing at SIUE to discuss state funding for the Southern Illinois University system and allocations between the Edwardsville and Carbondale campuses.
“Student enrollment at SIUE has grown exponentially throughout the past decade, but the Edwardsville campus still only receives 36 percent of the Southern Illinois University system’s state funding,” Stuart said. “This hearing was an important opportunity for my colleagues in the legislature to hear from the Edwardsville community and understand how this funding disparity is hurting the students, the faculty and our local economy.”
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As a former educator at SIUE, Stuart has been leading the charge to bring fair funding to the Edwardsville campus. She has been calling for the Illinois State Board of Higher Education to conduct an independent study of the SIU Board of Trustees to review the allocation of state funds between the two campuses.
“SIUE has grown to be a major economic engine for the Metro East, not only for the students, but for all residents of the region and it’s time for the distribution of state funding to reflect that growth,” Stuart said. “I will continue fighting to bring fair funding to Edwardsville because I know that it’s the right thing to do for our community.”
