Illinois lawmakers are considering whether to end a benefit that lets university employees send their kids to state colleges for half-price. A measure is now before the full house that could bring the practice to an end.Dave Steelman lobbies for Western Illinois University. He says at that school, the majority of employees using tuition waivers are relatively low-paid workers, like clerks. He says they have to work in the university system for seven years before they're eligible. Steelman says when employee tuition waivers are compared to similar programs, they don't cost very much. He says at Western last year, employee dependent waivers totaled about 240-thousand dollars compared with $2.2-Million for Veterans' waivers.
But legislators who want to repeal the tuition waivers say it's not right to have a special benefit for certain government employees. Representative Mike Tryon says it's almost like saying if I work at the building department, I get my building permit for half price. The Crystal Lake Republican says he doesn't know of any other part of government where employees get to pay less for something than the taxpayers or the general public.
Those who want to end the perk say they would consider a compromise, like a salary cap that limits the benefit to lower-wage employees.
