UIUC Preservation Concerns and Applications Boost

Here are a couple UIUC updates on preservation concerns with Greek housing and a continued jump in applications to the UI system. Champaign and Urbana property taxes and planning is apparently adding some financial pressure to historic buildings in the Greek System on campus. From the News-Gazette earlier this month:

UI Greek houses make state preservationist group's 'most endangered' list
Landmarks Illinois, which promotes preservation of historic structures across the state, placed Greek Housing at the UI on its 2019 list of the 12 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois, saying an increasing number of fraternity and sorority houses face demolition.

"These beautiful homes, which have become an integral part of the architectural fabric of Champaign and Urbana, have suffered from deferred maintenance, declining occupancy rates and a rapid escalation of property-tax assessments, often making them tear-down targets to make way for new, higher-density apartment buildings," Landmarks Illinois said in its announcement Tuesday.

Compounding the trend is a recent spike in property-tax assessments, particularly in Champaign, the group said. Beginning in 2016, fraternities and sororities saw their land values triple or even quadruple as the City of Champaign Township adjusted assessments to reflect rising sale prices for Campustown properties amid a boom of apartment construction, officials said...

Advocates have pushed for tax relief for sororities and fraternities, arguing that they are nonprofit organizations providing affordable, university-approved student housing. But a bill to exempt school-approved dormitories or residence halls from property taxes failed in 2018, the group said.

Full article here.

The University's applications increased 10% across the system and at the local UIUC campus, likely due to the "free tuition program." The News-Gazette had more on that yesterday:

UI admissions applications up 10 percent systemwide for 2019-20
The actual numbers won't be released until next fall, but applications to the University of Illinois are up more than 10 percent this year, driven in part by interest in a new free-tuition program.

Applications rose by more than 10 percent systemwide at the UI's three campuses in Urbana, Chicago and Springfield, over the 62,800 received last year, UI officials said...

The numbers include a 10 percent increase at Urbana and a comparable hike in applications from in-state students, said Admissions Director Andrew Borst...

The increase in applicants has leveled off somewhat after a 24 percent jump in applications for early admission last fall, with the UI receiving 5,000 more than the previous year.

Full article here. More on the previous jump here. The News-Gazette also had a full description of the free tuition program here.