Editorial: Best of times at University of Chicago, worst of times at Northeastern Illinois, and agony for applicants

Across Illinois and the nation, high school seniors are holding their breath awaiting news of their applications to America’s colleges and universities. It’s a high-tension situation.

Thanks to the rise of the common application and the pandemic-fueled increase of a test-optional application choice at many schools, the numbers of students applying to prestigious institutions has exploded. If knockout test scores are no longer necessary, most students with the means to pay the admissions fee understandably figure they might as well go for lots of Hail Marys, whatever their grades.

The University of Chicago, as one example, has an acceptance rate of only around 6%. The University of Chicago won’t break down that rate in terms of regular decision applications versus fall early-decision applications (when students commit in advance if accepted, and cannot apply to competing schools).

However, a high school college counselor told us that the University of Chicago is so popular among early-decision applicants, the chances of a kid being accepted last year through a regular decision application appeared to be only around 1% to 2%. That’s a 1 in 50 or a 1 in 100 shot. Not good odds. And, of course, peer schools are comparable.

Compare that with the situation at Northeastern Illinois University, where Crain’s Chicago Business reported that just 331 full-time students enrolled in fall 2021 and, among recent full-time graduates, a stunningly low 4.5% finished within four years. The president of that school, Gloria Gibson, has been ousted by the board of trustees, which has decided not to renew her contract beyond June 30, 2023.

WBEZ framed that issue Monday mostly as one of racial discrimination and a president holding off a board’s clout. “In an email obtained by WBEZ,” the station reported, “NEIU President Gloria Gibson told a top state official that the university’s board discriminated against her ‘based on my race and gender.’ Gibson also accused the two board members of trying to force her out in ‘retaliation’ for her refusal to give scholarships to three ineligible students — including the wife of a board member.”

Crain’s, by stark contrast, quoted faculty members lamenting NEIU’s leadership and saying that the board of trustees failed to provide adequate oversight of Gibson’s weak leadership. Crain’s also reported that “relations began to sour when the faculty and some trustees felt she wasn’t listening to their turnaround ideas, which included better connections with Chicago business and its job-training needs. The faculty grew frustrated with what it perceived as a lack of urgency to address the enrollment crisis and related budget shortfalls.”

Whatever your point of view, the enrollment crisis and budget shortfalls are real. Both are bad news for a school that historically has served a large Latino population, as well as a sizable subset of older students needing to work and study close to home. The crisis has rightly motivated Gov. J.B. Pritzker to overhaul the NEIU board. And it sure sounds to us like time for a new president.

How can both of these situations — the one in Hyde Park and the one in North Park — be occurring at the same time?

That’s a complex question, but it begins with the out-of-control fetishization of prestigious, name-brand universities, which is far from illogical on the part of high school seniors, given salary data and how employers recruit.

Universities don’t compete that much on price, so NEIU remains fairly expensive at close to $17,000 a year, even if much cheaper than the University of Chicago. Part of NEIU’s problems also result from the state’s years of chronic disinvestment in its public universities, especially under Gov. Bruce Rauner, a situation that culminated in many Illinois students preferring to apply to out-of-state flagship schools such as the University of Michigan or the University of Virginia, both public schools that can compete with the Ivy Leagues.

We see higher education as broken at both ends of the scale. The widespread removal of the SAT or the ACT as a requirement, an absurd development in the name of equity, actually has increased the number of schools to which privileged kids apply, while overwhelming admissions offices. That makes it harder for a hugely talented poor kid to ace the SAT and escape the tyranny of low expectations.

Add to this chaos an upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the use of race in admissions decisions. The ruling is expected this summer and could preemptively affect admissions decisions, we’re told. Whichever way that one goes, dissent will abound, and so will more unrest and uncertainty in the already brutal admissions process.

Meanwhile, schools doing decent jobs of training teachers, businesspeople and social workers like NEIU have been beset by the kind of senior management chaos you rarely see at top private schools. They deserve better.

NEIU, along with other state schools such as Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Chicago State universities, should not be wasting money on bloated administrations, especially in light of demographic changes that make enrollment more challenging. Nor should they encourage students to go into debt they are unlikely to be able to repay.

That said, U.S. high school graduates deserve a less stratified system of higher education (in what sector are the haves and have-nots more starkly revealed?), and Illinois’ public universities deserve the fiscal, moral and practical support of the people of Illinois.

They are where most Illinoisans get their higher education. We should demand and expect both accountability and public investment in excellence.

Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.