Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) won her fight on Tuesday to stop a measure she feared would give college admission precedence to some unprepared students as well as allow non-citizens to steal university seats.
“You’re going to allow non-citizens to take the spots that should be reserved for citizens,” Ives said. “You’re mandating that universities accept 10 percent whether or not they are qualified at all.”
HB230, sponsored by Rep. Andre Thapedi (D-Chicago), would require that Illinois public universities admit first-time freshman applicants who finish with a grade-point average in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class and satisfy the ACT or SAT benchmarks.
Illinois State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton)
The University of Illinois and the Illinois Board of Higher Education oppose the bill.
Thapedi argued that the bill is meant to retain promising students from leaving the state and diversify universities.
Ives argued that the bill forces universities to accept students who might not qualify or are not ready for higher education. She said school districts like East St. Louis have only a 6 percent college-ready rate, but the bill would force universities to accept those students who are unprepared.
“That’s just ridiculous that you would give important spots to folks that are literally not qualified to participate in higher education at that point,” Ives said. “Here is why we know that is true: because included in that bill [are] additional preparation [courses] for colleges that universities must give applicants who are otherwise not qualified yet to do college work. This is an additional requirement upon our universities in order to get kids up to speed over the summer and to put them into almost really remedial classes so they can participate when they should not have been accepted into the university to begin with. This is not a good idea.”
Ives said the state should not be involved in the admissions process, echoing many of her Republican colleagues.
“We need to not get involved in this,” she said. “This is something our universities should be involved in and solely for them. Certainly, we are allowing non-citizens to take the spot of our citizens. I urge a 'no' vote.”
HB230 lost on a 53-54 vote. Thapedi asked for a postponed consideration.
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