Students Are Leaving the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Why?

common app essay about a belief or idea

An article in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education (registration required) highlights the ways in which the state of Illinois has been bleeding students for years.  There are lots of reasons why students in Illinois are avoiding state universities, despite moves to freeze tuition increases for the past three years.

  1. There are attractive alternatives in other, neighboring states.
  2. Illinois has not offered easy roads to being classified as “in-state” student for tuition purposes.
  3. Out of state students also have many other options.
  4. State lawmakers have eviscerated the higher education budget for year (as has been the case in so many other states).

Some of these reasons are not ones that universities in Illinois, including UIUC, can really do much about.  But this may also explain the dip in UIUC’s ranking in 2018.  This year it is #52, while it was #41 in 2014.
If it were a nimble private college, UIUC might be able to objectives a bit better and make the necessary changes quickly to both regain students and its ranking,  But as a public university, it will take quite a long time for it to adjust its game plan and improve its fortunes.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

Universities Divided Into Colleges–Northwestern University in Illinois

During a recent visit to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, Mark took a few moments to explain that many universities in the United States are divided administratively into separate colleges that focus on a particular academic area.

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Knox College – A Hotbed of Progressive Thinking

On a visit to Knox College, Mark took a moment to talk about how you might find plenty of  unconventional and progressive thinking happening in places you might not expect.
Check this video out to learn more about this college with a beautiful campus.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
 
If you prefer, you may read the transcript below.
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I’m here today on the campus of Knox College, which is in Galesburg, Illinois.  It’s a relatively rural area; small town, agricultural town.  Illinois is a very agricultural state.  We always think of Illinois and Chicago, but most of the state is agricultural.  Knox is a liberal arts college, and beautiful campus; and most people would think that Knox would not be a very progressive place to go to school.  Actually, places like Knox, and we also visited Earlham yesterday, Earlham College in Indiana.  In some ways, Knox is a hot bed of progressive thinking.  The Lincoln-Douglas debates were held here, and if you think about it, the Midwest engendered some of the most progressive thinking when this area was first settled, it was anti-slavery.  It was definitely thinking outside the box beyond the status quo.
Certainly in a place like this, you’re going to have people who come from the surrounding states.  Many of the students who come here are within say a 300 mile drive.  However, the kind of thinking that goes on here is not inside the box.  It is not rural agrarian thinking; it is very much connected with the world.  Knox has that tradition, and the students and the faculty here do a lot of individualized research.  This is a very strong, academic environment.  Yes, it’s a little further afield, shall we say, than many other colleges who may be more suburban or urban, but don’t let that fool you that the kind of thinking that goes on, on a campus like this, is relatively status quo.  It’s not; you’re going to be challenged here, you’re going to be focusing on learning and isn’t that what your education is all about?