The University of Illinois Board of Trustees voted earlier this month to increase health insurance premiums by more than 30 percent for students at its Urbana-Champaign campus. 

University of Illinois President Timothy Killeen is “delighted” and “very excited” about the funding increase for higher education included in the newly approved state budget. He said the investment in higher education spending represents an “historic turn in absolutely the right direction,” Killeen said.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign set an enrollment record for the seventh consecutive year. The 10-day total enrollment, graduate and undergraduate, on the Urbana campus is 47,826—up three percent from last year.

Gov. Bruce Rauner is scheduled to deliver his budget message to the Illinois General Assembly this Wednesday. In advance of that, interest groups are lining up to plead their case for state funding. On Monday, representatives of the state’s colleges and universities made one such pitch.