Years of cuts and a state budget impasse caused students to look for colleges and universities outside of Illinois to further their education, with many even making the unfortunate decision not to go to college at all.

Illinois lawmakers are debating a bill that would pay student teachers as they’re learning to teach students.

A pair of competing bills in the House would, for the first time in Illinois, offer state-funded stipends for student teachers. Supporters of the idea say it’s needed to ease some of the financial burden on teachers-in-training, which some argue is one source of the state’s teacher shortage.

Illinois lawmakers have a new road map to fund public colleges and universities across the state. The Illinois Commission on Equitable Public University Funding released its recommendations Wednesday.

A state commission created in 2021 has issued a new report calculating that public universities in Illinois are underfunded by approximately $1.4 billion.

For the past six years, the state has mostly upheld an agreement to pay 350 million dollars into k through 12 each year.

But advocates say the state should consider upping that annual contribution to help schools reach full funding faster.

WNIJ's Peter Medlin spoke with commission member & Advance Illinois president Robin Steans about what that would mean for students.