Pritzker calls for setting new higher education attainment goals
[March 17, 2026]
By Peter Hancock
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker is calling on agencies in his
administration to set goals for increasing the number of adults in the
state with college degrees or other postsecondary credentials.
In an executive order issued Friday, Pritzker announced the formation of
a working group that will review the state’s existing workforce
development programs, consult with industry and labor groups as well as
local economic development organizations, and recommend new higher
education attainment goals.
That order comes on the heels of multiple reports showing the state has
fallen short of previous goals for improving educational attainment and
that many barriers still prevent people from lower-income backgrounds
from completing college and climbing up the economic ladder.
In 2009, the General Assembly established the Illinois P-20 Council to
make recommendations for developing a seamless and coordinated system of
public education covering preschool through graduate and professional
school. Among that group’s recommendations was that by 2025, at least
60% of the state’s adult population should have either a college degree
or some other kind of high-quality postsecondary credential.
Past reports offer mixed review
But a report released this past October found the state appeared to be
falling just short of that goal. In its biennial report “The State We’re
In,” the nonpartisan research and advocacy group Advance Illinois
reported that as of 2023, only about 57.4% of adults had finished a
degree or credential program. That was still a significant improvement
from 41% in 2008.
In his executive order, however, Pritzker cited workforce projections
that indicate by 2031, more than 70% of all jobs will require education
or training beyond high school.
Meanwhile, a pair of reports last year from the Illinois Workforce and
Education Research Collaborative, or IWERC, found significant
disparities exist in access to the benefits that are supposed to come
with earning a college degree.
In a July report, the organization found college degrees do, in fact,
lead to higher earnings overall. But even after earning a degree,
students from lower-income family backgrounds tend to earn less than
those from wealthier backgrounds, even when they earn similar degrees
and go into similar careers.
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Gov. JB Pritzker signs legislation at the University of Illinois
Springfield in 2021. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
And in a follow-up report in December, IWERC found that while some
career pathways that don’t require college degrees can lead to
good-paying jobs and upward mobility — including construction,
manufacturing and wholesale trade — many of those pathways were
promising only for men or for specific racial and ethnic groups.
Pritzker’s order
In his order, Pritzker highlighted statistics showing that since he came
into office the state has taken steps to make college more affordable,
such as increasing funding for Monetary Award Program and AIM HIGH
grants. He also noted that the percentage of in-state undergraduate
students at public universities paying no tuition or fees has risen to
44% in Fiscal Year 2025, up from 24% in 2018.
The new working group will consist of representatives from several state
agencies, including the Board of Higher Education, Community College
Board, State Board of Education, Student Assistance Commission,
Department of Employment Security, Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity and the Illinois Workforce Innovation Board.
It will also include advisory members from the departments of Human
Services, Corrections and Public Health as well as the office of First
Lady M.K. Pritzker.
The board is supposed to issue its recommendations to the governor by
Dec. 1, 2026.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government
coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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