Galesburg Reporter

Students who want to apply to any of the 12 public universities in Illinois will be able to use a single online application, known as the Common App, beginning this fall.

The move, backed by Gov. J.B Pritzker, is designed to encourage more students to apply to in-state universities and reduce the number of students leaving to attend out-of-state institutions. The governor's proposed budget for the fiscal year 2022 includes $1 million to fund the universities' transition to the app.

"Illinois becomes only the second state in the nation to have all its public universities on the Common App," Illinois Deputy Governor for Education Jesse Ruiz said in a March interview with Fox 32.

According to Ruiz, the application will allow students to easily apply to more than one state university at a time through a streamlined process. He hopes it will also make them more likely to choose to attend a state university ultimately.

"It's much, much easier, takes out the complexity, and again highlights all the great opportunities that students may not have been aware of," Ruiz said of the admission application.

All students interested in attending an Illinois public university, including transfer students and out-of-state or international students, will be able to submit their application through Common App. Ruiz says the application is user-friendly and easy for students to navigate because they're technologically savvy and accustomed to similar formats.

"We hope it promotes and provides more opportunities and creates more work for our admissions offices across the state," Ruiz said. "We want to have robust enrollments at all of our public universities."

Currently, only three Illinois public universities use Common App. Some state institutions previously expressed reluctance to transition to the application because of the expense and expected adjustment period staff will undergo. But according to Ruiz, all 12 of the state universities have embraced the change now that the cost barriers have been removed.

Enrollments at Illinois universities have been declining for years, dipping from more than 930,000 students in 2010 to less than 768,000 in 2017.

The coronavirus pandemic has only further compounded the problem. State statistics show that university enrollments dropped by 7.2% in 2021 compared to the previous fall — a markedly more significant decrease than the average national decline of 4.4%.

Additionally, figures compiled by the Illinois Board of Higher Education revealed that the number of students leaving the state to attend college elsewhere is on the rise. According to the most recent data, nearly half of all Illinois public school graduates are choosing to attend out-of-state institutions. That marks a substantial increase in out-migrations in the past two decades. In 2002, only 29.3% of graduates attended four-year universities in other states.

The decline in state college attendance has been attributed to multiple factors, including the rising cost of universities in the state and less generous financial aid offerings compared to other institutions in the Midwest.