Bill Text: IL HR0527 | 2015-2016 | 99th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges President Barack Obama and Congress to make federal funds available to the Illinois Community College System.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-05-30 - Resolution Adopted [HR0527 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2015-HR0527-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Nearly one million students taking credit, | ||||||
3 | non-credit, and community education courses walk through the | ||||||
4 | doors of an Illinois community college each year; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Community colleges are the primary provider of | ||||||
6 | higher education in Illinois; 65% of all students who are | ||||||
7 | enrolled in a public institution of higher education in the | ||||||
8 | State attend a community college; and
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9 | WHEREAS, More than two-thirds of all minorities in Illinois | ||||||
10 | public higher education attend community colleges; nearly | ||||||
11 | 15,000 students with disabilities and 62,000 students with | ||||||
12 | limited English proficiency are served each year; and
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13 | WHEREAS, College costs are reduced when students are able | ||||||
14 | to gain access to college-level coursework during their junior | ||||||
15 | and senior years of high school through dual credit; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Community colleges offered 8,780 dual credit | ||||||
17 | courses to 82,895 high school students last year; and
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18 | WHEREAS, The average tuition rate per credit hour is nearly | ||||||
19 | $119.00 per credit hour; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Of the nearly 165,000 qualified MAP students who | ||||||
2 | were turned away due to lack of funds in Fiscal Year 2014, | ||||||
3 | almost 75% of them were community college students; and
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4 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Community College System Economic | ||||||
5 | Impact Study finds that, on average, all students who completed | ||||||
6 | their community college education in Fiscal Year 2011 saw a | ||||||
7 | gain of almost $3,600, a 30% increase in earnings over their | ||||||
8 | pre-enrollment wages; and
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9 | WHEREAS, In his first State of the State Address, Governor | ||||||
10 | Bruce Rauner called for an end to "the era of cutting funding | ||||||
11 | for technical training and community colleges"; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Governor Rauner's Fiscal Year 2016 budget | ||||||
13 | provides for an investment in our future workforce through K-12 | ||||||
14 | education and community colleges; and
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15 | WHEREAS, In January of 2015, President Barack Obama | ||||||
16 | announced the America's College Promise initiative to provide a | ||||||
17 | community college education tuition free to qualified | ||||||
18 | students; and
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19 | WHEREAS, The America's College Promise of free community | ||||||
20 | college tuition, partnered with proven strategies to support | ||||||
21 | student achievement and increase degree completion, would |
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1 | provide the critical support structures needed to ensure that | ||||||
2 | our State and our nation would have an educated workforce | ||||||
3 | prepared for the jobs of the future; therefore, be it
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4 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
5 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
6 | urge President Barack Obama and Congress to make federal funds | ||||||
7 | available to the Illinois Community College System; and be it | ||||||
8 | further
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9 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
10 | delivered to the President of the United States, the Speaker of | ||||||
11 | the United States House of Representatives, the Majority Leader | ||||||
12 | of the United States Senate, and the members of the Illinois | ||||||
13 | congressional delegation.
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