If Chicago State University closes March 1, which some say is a possibility if the state budget crisis is not soon resolved, Paris Griffin stands to lose a $25,000 internship at Apple.
The senior, who grew up in Calumet City and now lives in Englewood, has plans to travel to Apple headquarters in California to work at the job training opportunity she received through the Thurgood Marshall Apple HCBU Scholars Program.
But if her school closes because it has run out of money, she won’t graduate. If she doesn’t graduate, she loses the scholarship, some of which she was planning to apply to her current student debt.
“The lawmakers are not just blocking a budget,” she said. “They’re blocking our futures.”
Griffin, a public relations major, has worked the past six years to complete her degree, raising her daughter simultaneously.
“It’s really sad to get this far, to get this close to the end, and to be held up because of political games,” she said.
She and other students have protested the situation. They closed down a portion of the Dan Ryan Expressway a few weeks ago and last week, they picketed in front the governor’s office downtown.
The state has been operating without a budget since July 1. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain dug in on resolving the crisis. Gov. Rauner is proposing 31.5 percent cuts to higher education; the Democrats say that is much too steep. As the parties remain steadfast, state funding has come to a screeching halt.
While all of the state public universities — including Governors State and Northern Illinois — have been hit hard, Chicago State, which first opened in a railroad freight car in Blue Island in 1867, is at a critical point, university officials announced last week.
Lacking the reserves on which some of the other institutions were able to rely, CSU’s board chairman said in a recent email that officials held a special meeting at the South Side campus to, “declare financial exigency and prepare the university to continue operating in the absence of state funding.”
Exigency means the university will “reevaluate all programs, services and organizational structures in order to fulfill its core mission and to complete the current semester.”
In addition, the board established a management action committee to continue reviewing all aspects of university spending and make recommendations on where additional savings can be found.
Chairman Anthony Young stated in a release: “Over the past year, this university has made significant cuts to personnel and spending, but has reached a tipping point where the ability to function is threatened. I want to be very clear, this action may help the administration manage this crisis in the short term, but exigency is by no means a solution to our budget woes. The only real solution is for the governor and the leaders to come together and provide the necessary funding to avoid further damage to our universities.”
In the same release, CSU President Thomas Calhoun, Jr., said, “We are committed to finishing this semester and to graduating our seniors, and in order to accomplish that goal in the absence of state dollars or MAP grant funding, we are forced to take these extraordinary measures.”
Even if the school can make it to semester’s end, what happens to all of it freshmen, sophomores and juniors?
Tochukwu Akujieze is a junior majoring in biology.
“If CSU closes. I’m going to have to find somewhere else to go. I’m not sure if there are any places that will take my credits,” said the Harvey resident. “Some classes aren’t transferable.”
She’s in kind of a financial limbo, too.
“I’m supposed to be getting a merit scholarship and a MAP (Monetary Award Program) grant,” she said. “Right now, I haven’t gotten them because of the budget situation. So this semester I kind of owe a bit of money.”
The impasse has had a profound effect on sophomore Andre Fredericks.
The occupational therapy major is now considering changing to political science.
“It’s made me pay a lot closer attention to politics than I ever have before in my life,” Fredericks said.
If CSU’s worst case scenario — it closes — comes to fruition, Fredericks said, “It will be pretty devastating.”
When he started attending class at the predominantly African-American school, Fredericks said, “It was an adjustment. My background was more diverse. I went to Lane Tech (High School). Here was a bit of a culture shock for me.”
But as he came to understand and appreciate the culture, he said, “I really came to love the school.
“That’s the part they don’t put in the news, the part that Rauner will never see. He can only see the statistics. Honestly, there are so many neat and different people who come to CSU, each with their own stories, their own reason for coming. It’s like a second home here. The people here make you feel like you’re literally a second family.”
CSU, he said, is a second chance for a lot of students who drop out of other universities, for whatever reason.
“This is the push they need to really get into shape or get back on track,” he said. “If Chicago State shuts down, there will be so many people who will be lost in Chicago. People find themselves here, they come here and figure out what they need to do. There’s something about this place that makes you want to give back to the community. Losing that would be a great loss.”
Fredericks added, “I’m baffled that this is even an issue. A lot of politicians talk a lot about how they value education, they say they care about students, but once they get into office they forget or lose the initiative.”
Though he is considering backup schools should CSU close, and though he’s had to rely on loans to compensate for the state not coming through with merit and MAP grants he qualified for, Fredericks said he is still an optimist.
“I know the situation is very dire, but I have a level of optimism I can’t shake,” he said. “I still think we’re going to get through this.”
Jeff Taylor, of Tinley Park, double majored in management and marketing at Chicago State University. He graduated back in 1986, but still has fond memories of being an ambassador for his college while at the university.
“I got to meet a lot of top people in the business world,” he said.
Chicago State, Taylor said, “is a university that has allowed (Chicago residents and suburbanites) to get an education close to home at a competitive price.”
Now, though, he said he believes the university to be “top heavy with administration.
“At the end of the day, they’re there to educate kids not give paychecks to layer upon layer of administration,” he said.
Taylor said the state’s financial situation is just as precarious as the university’s.
“Rauner says we’ve been kicking the can down the road for years,” he said. “That needs to stop. We’ve got unfunded pension requirements and we can’t continue to go down this road.”
Eventually, he said, “something’s got to give.”
Fiscally, he added, “We all need to be more responsible. We need to balance the budget, take care of the schools and let kids learn and then get a job.”
Lack of payment to public universities is tough, he said. So are cuts to social services, he added.
Right now, he said, the finger has to be pointed at Rauner, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton. “They need to sit down and figure out what needs to be done. You can’t just ignore this and you can’t just keep taxing. You need a solution.”
Taylor added, “Unfortunately, it’s the students who are caught in the middle.”
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