Full Text of HR0527 99th General Assembly
HR0527 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 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 | 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
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Community colleges offered 8,780 dual credit | 17 | | courses to 82,895 high school students last year; and
| 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
| 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
| 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 | 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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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