South Cook News

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently announced that a brand new health sciences building costing $109 million is coming to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) campus.

The new building will house the School of Nursing and the School of Pharmacy, a news release from the Edwardsville Intelligencer said. The funding for the health sciences building is coming from his new 2023-24 fiscal year budget. So far, Pritzker has proposed the highest funding increase for higher education than any made in the last 20 years. He also noted that when he took office, higher-education funding had been slashed to the point that out-of-state tuition was actually less than in-state tuition for Illinois residents

"My partners in the General Assembly recognized that and we’ve worked together over the last four years to make college attainable for every Illinois student," the governor said at a press conference at SIUE, quoted by the Intelligencer. "We’ve also worked to increase enrollment in all our institutions.”

Pritzker believes that higher education is an opportunity that all students should have, and he has gone on a college tour to connect with students. During his visits to multiple universities in Illinois, he promoted his Fiscal Year 2024 Budget. He said that he aspires to decrease the cost of tuition in colleges across the state. 

This year, freshman enrollment across Illinois has increased by 5% to its highest overall level in six years. The governor added that Illinois is taking Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants to new heights, with a proposed $100 million increase in funding. The funding increase is through Pritzker’s bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan, which ranks as the largest capital plan in state history.

“Rebuild Illinois capital plan dedicates nearly $2.8 billion for state and community college infrastructure across the state," he said. "Over $280 million of that is directed to the SIU System including $109 million for the new health sciences building here at SIUE.”