The University of Illinois System today has 258 percent more employees and its annual budget is 389 percent higher than it was 45 years ago, in inflation-adjusted dollars.
But its enrollment has only grown 28 percent over the same period, according to analysis by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes the Chambana Sun.
In the 1972-73 school year, the University of Illinois system had 61,107 students and spent $199 million per year, or $1.146 billion in 2017 dollars, according to university financial records.
In the 2017-18 school year, it had 78,163 students and an operating budget of $5.6 billion
The LGIS analysis comes amidst cries by University of Illinois leaders that they still aren’t spending enough. The State of Illinois’ education secretary, Beth Purvis, told the Wall Street Journal last week that the state’s university system is “in a crisis situation" because the state is slow in paying its promised taxpayer subsidies.
At University of Illinois, they account to approximately $662 million, or 12 percent of what they spend, in total.
More faculty, more faculty pay
Driving U of I’s increase: massive growth in the University of Illinois workforce. The system reported employing 29,400 last year; it had just 11,381 employees in 1972.
And the LGIS analysis shows University of Illinois staff and faculty salaries have grown much greater than the rate of inflation.
In 1973, the average Illinois faculty member made $85,986, inflation-adjusted, according to an American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Study.
In 1987, an Illinois Board of Higher Education report said the average University of Illinois salary was $96,457 (inflation-adjusted), versus $135,822 in 2016, as reported by the university’s Faculty Salary Study.
President John E. Corbally earned $50,000 in 1971, or $300,000 in today’s dollars. Current U of I President Tim Kileen earns twice that-- $600,000-- before bonuses.
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