New 4-year state university in Peoria?

[tornado]

Why not -- gotta be a lot of $$ for this just sitting in Springfield's coffers...

http://www.1470wmbd.com/Peoria-Council-wants-to--research-four-year-univer/10294747

Peoria State University?
State University of Peoria?
State University of Central Illinois? (be thankful it's not Kentucky)

[thefish7]

Would a viable solution be conversion of ICC into a 4-year school?

Fat Lake State!

[BUFanatic]

I'd love to see ICC as a four year state college! Maybe adding another team to the MVC?

[tornado]

I'd love to see ICC as a four year state college! Maybe adding another team to the MVC?

yeah -- that's the ticket -- I can see it now......
ICC builds several dorms to convert from a 2-year commuter school to a 4-year state university, then gets approval and proceeds to build a 10,000 seat, ON-CAMPUS basketball arena and joins the MVC!!!...or better yet, a 75K football arena and join the Big Ten!

Didn't ISU fans say just last year that ISU was going to join the Big 12 for football!

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

Would a viable solution be conversion of ICC into a 4-year school?

Fat Lake State!

That would seem to make sense especially if it was done slowly. ICC seems to be evolving in that direction as it is.

[Da Coach]

I like this quote-
Council members decided to prioritize this due to the growth of Illinois Central College and due to this area being the largest in the state without a four year state school.

Is this even true? Illinois State is only 38 miles from Peoria.
Rockford is a larger city than Peoria, and is 43 miles from the nearest state university (NIU) in DeKalb.
And there are other large population areas of Illinois that are much more isolated and distant from state universities. The Quad Cities area doesn't have a state school within almost 100 miles of it.

With the economy the way it is, and with the state of Illinois so deeply in debt, I can't see any way we can afford another major 4-year state university created in Peoria just to satisfy a few city council members. Recall that Peoria already does have one of the few state medical schools outside of Chicago, and has several universities, including state schools (WIU, EIU, NIU, SIU), within easy driving distance. These issues, and others, would be among the reasons other areas of Illinois would argue against Peoria being at the front of the line for a new state university.

And BTW- Chicago is enormously larger than Peoria or any other area of Illinois, and the only 4-year state school anywhere near Chicago is Chicago State, a corrupt, poorly run university that nobody would ever choose to send their kid to unless they simply had no choice. Do we really want another Chicago State here in Peoria?

[whyami]

It is long overdue to have a State College (4-year: note, Universities offer Post-Grad Studies). As for Your argument about Rockford being larger, this is true but when you combine the Metropolitan Area, Peoria is much larger than any of the above mentioned Cities but Chicago itself.

If they decide to have a 4-college I would suggest taking one of ICC's Campuses or Maybe old Woodruff High School and start there. There isn't an immediate need for housing or other items and I would never suggest starting with a large student base, a small college of 400 to 1000 would be a good start. If Peoria ever truely wants to be a center of technology, as the City Council preaches we are, then it is a must have.

[it's boogie time]

2010 MSA
#134 Quad Cities 379,690
#135 Peoria 379,186
#144 Rockford 349,431

The Rockford area (+9.31% growth) will probably pass the Peoria area (+3.35%) & the Quad Cities (+0.98%) by the next census.

The Peoria City Council has much bigger obstacles than trying to bring in a 4 year university

[BUFanatic]

yeah -- that's the ticket -- I can see it now......
ICC builds several dorms to convert from a 2-year commuter school to a 4-year state university, then gets approval and proceeds to build a 10,000 seat, ON-CAMPUS basketball arena and joins the MVC!!!...or better yet, a 75K football arena and join the Big Ten!

Didn't ISU fans say just last year that ISU was going to join the Big 12 for football!

ISU wouldn't last one quarter against Texas Tech... that's saying something XD

[tornado]

And BTW- Chicago is enormously larger than Peoria or any other area of Illinois, and the only 4-year state school anywhere near Chicago is Chicago State, a corrupt, poorly run university that nobody would ever choose to send their kid to unless they simply had no choice. Do we really want another Chicago State here in Peoria?

no, there are other 4-year state universities in and around Chicago --

UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) with all their affiliated professional schools like law school, medical school, etc...is a Chicago based major, 4-year state university

Northeastern Illinois University is a 4-year state school in the city of Chicago with four campuses in the city

Governor's State University is a 4-year state university a few miles south of Chicago near Chicago Heights

[SFP]

To go from a Community College to an accredited 4 year school takes resources which I'm betting the state of Illinois just does not have at the moment. A much better solution would be for one of the other state schools to open an extension in Peoria, in existing office space. If that goes well economically then they should consider the next step in creating an accredited 4 year state school. Has the demand of a 4 year education in the Peoria area gone up significantly. Last I saw, state coffers were empty and students were going to have to pay more for their state education. Usually increased prices lead to reduced demand. Sounds like special interest to me and I'm betting someone close to the City Council would benefit from this arrangement.

Peoria needs to wake up to today's realities. The City Council should rally around Cat, BU and any other viable business concern and stop wasting time and limited resources on pie in the sky ideas.

[amckillip]

And BTW- Chicago is enormously larger than Peoria or any other area of Illinois, and the only 4-year state school anywhere near Chicago is Chicago State, a corrupt, poorly run university that nobody would ever choose to send their kid to unless they simply had no choice. Do we really want another Chicago State here in Peoria?

I seriously hope you're joking, off the top of my head there's UIC which has 15000+ undergrads, and Governors State which is a little larger than Bradley. And why would you assume a new state university would be corrupt? If I'm not mistaken some people have have very close ties to state universities here (like went there for their doctorate or sent kids to state universities...) and the majority of top institutions in the country are state university.

I think this is the absolute worst time to be adding a new state university, the current ones are desperately underfunded, but it definitely makes sense for Peoria to have a public 4 year institution. Bradley is a great school that I provides a phenomenal educational value, particularly in engineering. But many people cannot afford/cannot get into BU and would benefit from a state university. I think spinning off part of ICC like the state did with Sangamon State into UI-Springfield is a great idea.

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

I think this is the absolute time to be adding a new state university, the current ones are desperately underfunded

You pointed out biggest problem with this idea. There's no money.

[SFP]

You pointed out biggest problem with this idea. There's no money.

The current system is so underfunded that the best and brightest are leaving academia teaching all together. What type of education would yet another underfunded state institution provide. What's wrong with funding a trade school where a lot of HS graduates should be attending? We are as a country not just lacking citizens with BS degrees but individuals with high end trade skills. Personally I believe we should look into the way Germany educates its youth. I'm not advocating to do it like they do 100% but they have the capacity to manufacture high end machinery and other vital products for the modern economy.

[QPS]

A much better solution would be for one of the other state schools to open an extension in Peoria, in existing office space.

U of I Springfield already offers many programs in Peoria: http://www.uis.edu/newsbureau/2009/1...rates-new.html

If there was a need for more public university education in Illinois, it would make sense to expand capacity of the current state universities rather than building an entire new school.

At one time, the state of Illinois funded a degree completion program at BU. ICC students that were working fulltime could attend BU and have the state pick up about 2/3's of their tuition. Let's bring that back.

Finally, just because someone went to ICC does not mean they want to continue to go to school in Peoria. Many of them want to get out of town for a "go away to college" experience.

I hope this idea quickly dies.