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Illinois ends participation in Midwest Student Exchange Program, which saved students millions in college tuition

Future college-bound Illinois students who attend out-of-state institutions will no longer be eligible for the Midwest Student Exchange Program, a tuition reciprocity agreement, according to the state’s board of higher education.

A spokeswoman for the Illinois Board of Higher Education said in a statement that no Illinois college or university is “currently opted in” to the Midwest Student Exchange Program, making the state an “inactive member.” McKendree University in Lebanon was the last Illinois institution to withdraw from the program. The state may participate again if an Illinois institution decides to join, according to the spokeswoman.

Illinois students who are already attending college out of state and benefiting from the program, including students who are planning to start college in the 2021-22 academic year, will be grandfathered in.

The exchange program gives students from Midwestern states tuition discounts at participating universities. While public colleges and universities typically charge a premium to out-of-state students, those in the program agree to charge eligible students no more than 150% of the school’s in-state tuition for specific programs, and private colleges offer a 10% reduction in tuition, according to the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, which oversees the program. Students typically save $500 to $5,000 per year, the compact said.

In total, Illinois students saved nearly $44 million in tuition in 2019-20 — the highest savings of any participating state, according to a 2020 report from the compact.

In recent years, it appears that the program benefited individual students more than Illinois institutions, which mostly chose not to participate.

In the 2017-18 school year, more than 7,600 Illinois students used the program to receive tuition discounts at schools in other states, while no students from other states used it to attend Illinois schools, according to the most recent numbers available from the compact.

Daina Jauntirans, whose daughter is a rising senior at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee under the Midwest Student Exchange Program, said the reciprocity program saved her family about $6,000 to $7,000 per year on tuition. Jauntirans, who lives in Evanston, said she did not receive notice that Illinois was no longer part of the program from her daughter’s school or the state but instead found out on Facebook messaging boards.

“A lot of people have expressed disappointment because it’s such a great opportunity for students who might fall at an in-between level income-wise,” she said. “It’s a possibility to go to other states and experience that, and live somewhere else at a relatively affordable rate, considering the high price of education now.

“It’s a shame that it’s going away.”

Enrollment in Illinois higher education institutions has steadily declined in the last few years. According to a 2020 report by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, state schools experienced a 1% decline in fall undergraduate enrollment between 2019 and 2020. Community colleges lost 12.4% of their enrollment in that period, and private nonprofit schools saw a 1.4% decrease.

An increasing number of Illinois public high school graduates have enrolled at out-of-state colleges and universities in the past two decades, according to a 2019 report by the higher education board.

David Tretter, president of the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, said Illinois is historically a big exporter of students. He said this “lopsided dynamic” may be why few Illinois schools have participated in the exchange.

“I think if institutions thought (the program) was a useful tool to attract students, they probably would be using it,” he said.

Tretter said some Illinois schools have positioned their own tuition reciprocity programs to better meet their need to bring students into the state, rather than encourage them to leave for out-of-state institutions. For example, Western Illinois University has provided in-state tuition rates to all domestic undergraduate and graduate students since 2016, according to university spokeswoman Darcie Shinberger.

“The marketplace is passing (regional reciprocity programs) by based on the competitive nature of higher education,” Tretter said. “The exchange isn’t a bad idea … but the marketplace has moved on from it.”

The compact is composed of 12 states, and the exchange program is voluntary. More than 50 colleges in Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin participate.

Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and South Dakota are “inactive,” according to the compact’s website. Michigan announced as of the 2019-20 academic year that it will no longer participate in the program, according to the state’s office of higher education.

“It’s really too bad because it’s both for students in Illinois and students in other states,” Jauntirans said. “I think it’s shortsighted to not look at it as a regional thing. I understand that they want to keep Illinois students in Illinois and donor dollars in Illinois.”

mprosser@chicagotribune.com