Education

 Public school districts everywhere have seen dramatic increases in the number of low-income students as overall enrollment has decreased or remained the same. 

Across the county, nearly half of students enrolled in public schools are now low income — a 56 percent increase over a decade ago. 

Among schools with 900 or more students, Rantoul, Champaign and Urbana school districts have the highest percentages of low-income students. Low-income students are defined as all schoolchildren (ages 3 through 17) receiving free or reduced-price lunches or other forms of government aid.

 By Pam G. Dempsey and Melissa Silverberg/CU-CitizenAccess — Over the past decade, public schools in Champaign County have seen a loss in white students, but none more so dramatic than in its two largest urban school districts. 

Officials attribute the shift in students to national trends mirrored by census data as well as more choices in private education. 

By Mary Beth Versaci/For CU-CitizenAccess -- Nearly four years after a report on Illinois campus security recommended that $25 million be appropriated for the improvement of campus security across the state, no college or university has received any money, and state officials are just beginning to draft plans for a grant program using the funds.

“At this point, the program hasn’t been developed,” said Patti Thompson, Illinois Emergency Management Agency media contact. “There is no program for colleges to apply for grants.”

By Mary Beth Versaci/For CU-CitizenAccess -- A Behavioral Intervention Team is made up of representatives from offices across the University of Illinois campus meets once a week to discuss students whose behavior can be considered disruptive and concerning to the rest of the campus community.

This behavior oftentimes does not require disciplinary action, but it has reached a level of concern and needs to be addressed before it escalates, said Ken Ballom, dean of students.

For the past five months, journalism students and faculty have examined the state of mental health treatment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is seeing more demand for mental health services but is struggling to meet that demand.

More of the university’s students are on psychiatric medication and more students are diagnosed with severe issues such as depression and anxiety than in years past.

For most college campuses across the nation, this is now considered “the norm” rather than atypical, Carla McCowan, director of the Counseling Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said.

Cowan said that years ago counselors dealt with students saying they had problems with roommates or were homesick or having trouble in classes.“

By Christen Grumstrup/For CU-CitizenAccess -- As tuition rises at the University of Illinois, the middle class student is facing the most financial pressure, say financial aid officials and students.

Sandy Street, the director of the University Office for Planning and Budgeting for all three university campuses, says that the middle class is most affected by tuition cost because they are the ones that “don’t get the state aid.”