Rockford Sun

Parents and students enrolled in the College Illinois prepaid tuition program, which closed to new investors last summer after falling $320 million short of its obligations, should not worry, Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) said during a recent interview.

"The program cannot legally default," Sosnowski told the Rockford Sun. "No parent or student currently enrolled in the program should worry. The state of Illinois has a responsibility to meet existing fiduciary commitments of College Illinois and to evaluate the program’s sustainability moving forward."

However, the program needs to end, Sosnowski said. "College Illinois has proven itself to be unsustainable, largely due to a massive decline in enrollment," he said. "Back in 1999, there were 11,706 families enrolled in the program. By 2010, there were only about 1,000. In light of this, we should maintain the freeze on enrollment to prevent College Illinois from going deeper into debt, determine a responsible way to meet the commitments to current enrollees and then end the program entirely."

Illinois State Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford)

Sosnowski is in his fourth term in the Illinois General Assembly representing the 69th House District, which includes portions Boone and Winnebago counties.

Sosnowski's comments followed on a report that said, for the second time in six years, College Illinois has been closed by the state to new investors. Crain's Chicago Business reported last month that state lawmakers are "huddling" with representatives from College Illinois' administrator Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) "on how to fill a gap between the dollars in the investment fund backing the program and the family-purchased contracts to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and other state schools in the future."

Sosnowski confirmed the Crain's report of the huddle. "ISAC is currently working with policymakers to provide information, insight and research to address the unfunded liability of College Illinois," he said. "I do not support using taxpayer dollars to market the program or to try to prop it up by lifting the freeze on new enrollees."

College Illinois is one of several prepaid tuition programs for higher education in the state. College Illinois is not affiliated with Illinois’ 529 college savings programs Bright Start and Bright Directions.

Sosnowski cited "three major factors" that contributed to College Illinois' failure and its currently unfunded liability. "(1) the skyrocketing cost of tuition and fees that has accelerated rapidly since the year 2000," Sosnowski said. "(2) the nationwide financial crisis of 2008-09 that crushed the bond markets in which College Illinois funds were invested; and (3) the precipitous drop in the number of families enrolling in College Illinois since its inception in 1997."

College Illinois sold only 433 new contracts during its 2016-17 sales year, according to the program's most recent actuary report. Those sales were the lowest since none were sold during the 2011-12 sales year, the last time the college savings program was closed to new investors after falling $560 million short. The 2016-17 contracts were a far cry from the 1998-99 sales year when 11,706 new contracts were sold, according to the actuary report.