Illinois college tuition increases going for pensions, not to benefit students

While rising tuition costs are a problem, it's best that we look a the causes. Here's one.

From UniversityBusiness:

Illinois' 12 percent increase in higher education spending this year isn't going to benefit students. Instead, the additional funding for fiscal 2012 is going into the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) to address its underfunded pension program.

More...

SURS, which is responsible for the pensions of the state's university employees, is facing an unfunded liability — how much it owes in benefits compared with how much assets it has on hand — of $17.2 billion, according to its 2011 annual report.

Those tuition hikes aren't "for the kids."

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