Chambana Sun

Changes are coming to public college admission requirements in Illinois starting the first of the year, and state Rep. Tom Bennett (R-Gibson City) wanted to make sure his constituents were up-to-date and knew what the adjustments were.

Bennett addressed the changes in a Dec. 10 post on his website.

"Minium college preparatory curriculum requirements for admission to a public university oblige a student to complete three years of science. Effective Jan. 1, a student may count an agricultural sciences class toward meeting that requirement," Bennett said in the news release.

The change was included in House Bill 3218 which added the option for students to take agricultural science courses to fulfill their admission requirements for state colleges and universities. 

"An agricultural education class may be counted toward the requirement for two years of electives," Bennett added.

According to records on the Illinois General Assembly website, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) approved the bill and signed it into law on Aug. 17.

"Another new law allows students to use a speech class to meet a graduation requirement," Bennett also said in the release. "Students may choose a forensic speech course as an elective to meet the one-year prerequisite for high school graduation."

That change made to graduation requirements was included in Senate Bill 2345 which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. Pritzker also signed the bill into law back in August. 

The law allows for a student's participation in classes such as speech or debate to be included in the music, art, foreign language, or vocational education elective that a student needs to complete prior to graduating high school. 

According to the St. Louis Business Journal, these new laws might help students who want to attend a public state college in the future even though college enrollments in both Southern Illinois and Missouri have declined during the second year of the pandemic.