A week after Higher Education Advocacy Day in Springfield, Julissa Sepulveda and I sat down with Dr. Joyce Ester, the president of Governor’s State University, to discuss how the trip went and the bigger picture of where our school is right now.
For anyone who didn’t catch our earlier coverage, Higher Education Advocacy Day is the day every spring when students, faculty, university presidents, and lobbying groups head down to the Capitol to push state legislators on funding for Illinois public universities. This year, the big push was for HB1581 and SB0013, the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Act, which would change how the state allocates funding to its public schools. Read more about our on-the-ground experience at Advocacy Day on April 16, 2026.
Dr. Ester had invited us to cover her testimony, so it felt right to circle back with her after the event.
Right out of the gate, we asked Dr. Ester how she felt Advocacy Day went. As referenced in our previous coverage, her testimony included an aggressive ask, over 50%, while many other public universities were asking for between 5% and 16%, and she stood by that strategy. “The squeaky wheel gets the oil.” If she had walked in asking for 10%, the response would probably have been “okay, we’ll give you one.” By asking for what GovState actually needs, Dr. Ester was trying to anchor the conversation differently. One of the legislators in the room even thanked her for the honesty in the size of the ask, which we all took as a good sign and hopefully an omen.
Dr. Ester told us she felt good about the testimony itself. Earlier in the week, she’d already presented to the Senate, so by the time the House testimony rolled around, she had it under her belt. What stood out to her was that the House legislators mostly weren’t asking pointed questions; they were making affirming comments about the institution. She also went back to the fact that by the time she gave her testimony, she already had been in Springfield for three days, meeting with people, so she was waving at legislators in the room because she actually knew them.
Nearing the end of her first year as president of the university, Dr. Ester has been following the speaker of the House’s advice from when she first took the job in July 2025: Be a fixture in Springfield. She’s made about four trips down there now. She said it feels like it’s paying off, though, in her words, “The proof will be in the pudding when we see what our appropriations are.”
On the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Act itself, Dr. Ester walked us through it in plain terms. Right now, she said, there’s no clear formula for how state appropriations are distributed. Every school receives a percentage increase or decrease from the previous year’s amount, regardless of need or enrollment. Under the new model proposed in HB1581 and SB0013, new money would be distributed according to a formula that aims for equity across the system, so one school might get 2%, another 5%, and another 6%, depending on what they actually need. For a school like GovState, which she pointed out is the least-funded public institution in the state, that’s a pretty big deal.
We asked Dr. Ester about the best and worst possible outcomes following this advocacy work for more funding for the university. Best case, GovState gets new funding that goes to things students actually feel, such as more counseling and advising support, more recruiters in high schools, overall better support for a hopefully growing student body, and fewer departments restructured due to the hiring freeze. She also highlighted the difference between one-time and ongoing funding, noting that if she hires someone with one-time money and that money disappears the next year, she’s stuck.
Worst case, the funding situation stays the way it is, and the school continues to try to do more with less, which has not been sustainable. Six of the seven public university presidents in Illinois are on the same side of this bill, and Dr. Ester said that kind of critical mass matters, even if one school is holding out. That holdout, as Dr. Ester confirmed, is the University of Illinois. From the conversations we had with lobbyists in Springfield, the speculation was that opposition could come down to the bill’s added transparency and accountability requirements, or to the fact that, as the system’s flagship, U of I would see slower relative growth under a formula that prioritizes the schools that have been underfunded for years.
A big chunk of our conversation focused on the budget, because that’s where this all hits the ground for students and faculty. Last year, Illinois public universities were promised a 3% increase in appropriations, but the governor withheld 2%. So GovState ended up getting just 1%, or about $240,000, instead of the larger amount the school had already budgeted for. That meant that the school was counting on, and had budgeted for, about $500,000 that never showed up. Dr. Ester said that, as she understood it, this happened because the governor was holding it back as a buffer in case federal-level cuts created bigger problems down the line. She wasn’t here when that decision was made, so she said she couldn’t speak to its true intent, only to how she hopes to work around this financial setback.
In addition to not receiving the funds expected from the state, Dr. Ester shared that she inherited other financial problems when she accepted the job as university president last year. Namely, the university budget was a little over $4 million in the red. The school had been drawing on its reserves to cover regular operating costs, which is not sustainable. Best practices say a school like GovState should have at least three months of operating reserves; Dr. Ester personally said she’d like six months, and the school is not close to either threshold. Her plan for the 2027 budget is to achieve a balanced budget and begin putting 3% off the top back into reserves each year so the school can rebuild that cushion. She’s been running budget forums and town halls so staff can see the numbers, because, in her words, “it’s not my money, this is the state’s money.”
All of this trickles down, and the most visible piece for students is tuition. Tuition is going up 1%, but this increase applies only to incoming freshmen and those just starting grad school. If you’re already a student at GovState, you’re locked in. That’s because of Illinois’s Truth in Tuition law, which guarantees in-state undergraduates the same tuition rate for four consecutive academic years from the time they start. It’s a state law, not a GovState policy, so the same protection applies at every public university in Illinois. So if you’re already enrolled, your rate doesn’t change, but if you’re a sibling, a friend, or a high schooler thinking about coming to GovState next fall, you’ll be looking at a higher number than the person sitting next to you in class.
The faculty side also is in play as contract negotiations are underway, and President Ester said that she cannot share much publicly, as the process is structured to be private. She mentioned that part of why she’s been so transparent about the budget is to ensure that everyone, faculty, staff, and administration, is looking at the same numbers when those conversations happen. She said she hopes she never has to see anyone strike in her career, but she also respects everyone’s right to do what they feel they need to do. It’s worth remembering that GovState faculty went on strike about three years ago, and right now, just downstate, U of I Springfield is in the middle of its own strike.
Toward the end of the conversation, Julissa and I asked Dr. Ester about the soccer field, since it’s one of the more visible things happening on campus right now. She’s excited about it: soccer’s something she’s slowly getting into, and she likes the idea of finally having a home field for sports that haven’t had one. She did say that, coming in as a new leader, she probably would have looked at it a little differently and maybe pushed for something more multi-sport, but she is happy to be able to deliver on this long-overdue promise.
Looking forward, the next big build she’d be pushing for in our legislative ask is a new Student Success Center, basically a single building that would put advising, counseling, and career services all in one place, so students are not bouncing all around the building to take care of such needs.
Coming out of the interview, what stuck with me is how much of this is connected. The 1% versus 3% deficit, rising tuition for incoming students, the faculty contract talks, the soccer field, the hiring freeze, the Student Success Center, it all ties back to the same question: how Illinois decides to fund schools like ours. The advocacy day in Springfield isn’t a separate story from the budget situation at GovState. It’s the same story, just at a different level. And, as President Ester said, she’s going to keep knocking on doors and beating that drum until she can’t, as we hope that our institution and all others around the state are able to get what they need to provide for their communities.
Julissa and I hope to keep checking in with President Ester each semester. If you’re a GovState student and there’s something you’d like us to bring to a future interview, send your suggestions to [email protected].