ALERT! Illinois House Moves to Eliminate Employees’ Tuition Waiver:
A long standing benefit for the families of State University employeesis under attack in the Illinois House. Years back, CFA fought hard for 50% tuition waivers for UI employees. Ricky Baldwin writes:
“Rep. Arroyo’s bill eliminating 50% tuition waivers for state university employees (seven years or more) passed out of the House Executive Committee this morning by a vote of 9-2.
“All state universities and many labor unions, including SEIU, worked against the bill. Many Democratic Committee members who voted in favor indicated great reluctance to support it on the floor. Amazingly, Reps. Acevedo and Arroyo felt comfortable openly admitting that the bill was connected to the unrelated move by many to eliminate legislative scholarships.”
It’s unrelated to the legislative scholarships scandal, but they want to do away with it anyway. Representatives Arroyo and Acevedo argued that it’s a freebie for highly paid professors, although this is clearly not the case. The waiver is used mainly by university employees who could not otherwise send their children to college. It is also important for recruitment and retention of faculty.
Call or email your State Representatives to let them know what you think about this.
Campus Faculty Association 