Chicago City Wire

State taxpayers spend $40 million per year subsidizing Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), but fewer than five percent of its students manage to graduate on time.

That’s according to Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) and U.S. Department of Education (DOE) data analyzed by Chicago City Wire.

The DOE’s National Center for Education Statistics tracked NEIU freshmen starting in 2007 and 2009. 

By 2011, just four percent of the 2007 entrants had graduated. 

By 2013, just five percent of the 2009 entrants had graduated.

NEIU, 5500 N. St. Louis in Chicago's North Park neighborhood on its far north side, currently has 8,095 undergraduate students, or approximately 2,024 per class, according to IBHE.

$108K per four-year graduate

At the school’s historic rate of performance, just 323 of the NEIU students who entered the school as freshmen last August will graduate in May 2020. 

Some 1,700 won’t.

That means state taxpayers, who pay about $4,300 annually per enrolled NEIU student, spend the equivalent of $108,000 per graduate.

The school spent $151 million on operations in 2015, including $39.8 million (26 percent) from state taxpayers and $36.2 million (24 percent) from the federal government.

Given six years to finish a four year program, 20 percent of 2007 entrants at NEIU got degrees.

Given eight years, 27 percent graduated.

The school’s federal subsidies have been the subject of scrutiny.

A 2012 report by the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission found that NEIU had problems tracking how many students it actually had enrolled,  which inflated the amount of federal taxpayer subsidy it received.

“(NEIU) did not properly identify all students who withdrew from the University,” the report said. “(NEIU) did not determine or return the unearned portion of (federal) aid provided to students who withdrew from the University, resulting in inaccuracies in the amounts reported in their financial statements and noncompliance with federal regulators.”

“The university does not have adequate procedures in place to determine if a student began attendance in a payment period, “ it said.

The report also slammed NEIU for failing to require faculty and graduate assistants to file time sheets, as is required by state law.

“University procedures did not require time reporting documenting the time spent each day on official state business,” it said.

Enrollment down, tuition up

Since the 2011-12 school year, NEIU has raised undergraduate tuition 21 percent, from $8,397 to $10,138 for undergraduates.

Over the same period, the school’s undergraduate enrollment fell 15 percent, from 9,421 to 8,095.

Despite this, NEIU used eminent domain last year to seize private property adjacent to the school, where it plans to build dorms.

Before recently announcing it would layoff 9.5 percent of its workforce, NEIU had 1,887 employees, or one for every four students. That includes 787 faculty members who earned a collective $43.3 million in 2016, before taxpayer-funded benefits and pension payments.

NEIU's acting president, Richard J. Helldobler, says the school needs to cut another $1.8 million if it is going to open next year.

Salaries are the schools biggest line item.

Last year, NEIU had 112 faculty who earned more than $100,000, before pension and benefits expense, according to IBHE.

Helldobler earned $291,115 last year. His predecessor, Sharon K. Hahs, earned $291,115. She retired in July 2016.

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100K+ earners at Northeastern Illinois University

Leaders at Northeastern Illinois Univ. say the school will close if it doesn't get more state subsidies. The school receives $40 million per year from state taxpayers.

How much does it pay its top faculty?

Name	Title	2016 Compensation
Sharon K. Hahs	President	$291,114.91
Richard J. Helldobler	Vice President	$199,788.03
Alireza Dorestani	Associate Professor	$187,431.56
Victoria A. Roman-Lagunas	Vice President	$181,443.84
Dragan Milovanovic	Professor	$177,973.25
Michael J. Pierick	Vice President	$176,503.86
Melissa Reardon Henry	Vice President	$173,043.00
Jian Li	Associate Professor	$172,861.39
Sara Aliabadi	Assistant Professor	$165,347.44
Nont Dhiensiri	Senior Officer	$164,574.20
Michael D. Bedell	Senior Officer	$164,092.50
Sundaram Dorai	Unit Director	$161,378.58
Wamucii E. Njogu	Senior Officer	$160,921.56
Maureen D. Gillette	Senior Officer	$159,185.28
Charles A. Funk	Associate Professor	$158,111.05
Shubin Xu	Assistant Professor	$153,784.17
Marcelo O. Sztainberg	Senior Officer	$151,327.18
Daniel Lopez	Vice President	$149,142.72
Lidia Z. Filus	Unit Director	$148,392.73
Maria T. Garreton	Unit Director	$148,379.91
Azim Zanjani Haj	Assistant Professor	$147,654.62
Wendy M. Stack	Vice President	$147,094.74
Hong G. Chen	Associate Professor	$145,113.38
Conrad W. Worrill	Unit Director	$144,353.19
Essam Elshafie	Associate Professor	$143,376.09
Michael J. Stern	Senior Officer	$143,028.99
Peter G. Kimmel	Unit Director	$142,089.48
Mark P. McKernin	Vice President	$141,375.09
Dilek G. Yunlu	Assistant Professor	$140,970.80
Xiaohong Wang	Assistant Professor	$139,639.44
Stijepko Tokic	Unit Director	$138,669.57
Myung-Ho Yoon	Professor	$137,784.51
Ai-Ru Yen	Associate Professor	$137,552.47
Rasoul Afifi	Associate Professor	$137,320.57
Charletta Gutierrez	Associate Professor	$134,304.14
Narendar V. Rao	Professor	$133,227.84
Chunwei Xian	Assistant Professor	$132,940.39
Judith D. Kaplan-Weinger	Professor	$132,232.06
Heung D. Kim	Professor	$132,086.50
Philip W. Gwanyama	Professor	$131,466.06
Craig Duetsch	Vice President	$130,124.58
Janice M. Harring-Hendon	Vice President	$129,826.47
Suresh Singh	Assistant Professor	$129,709.94
Nancy Medina	Vice President	$129,690.75
Carlos Melian	Senior Officer	$126,798.75
Liesl V. Downey	Vice President	$126,104.80
Shahrzad Mahootian	Professor	$125,955.82
Robert B. Filipp	Vice President	$124,981.74
Emmanuel M. Nyadroh	Assistant Professor	$123,782.35
Pillai Deepa Anil	Assistant Professor	$123,639.97
Cynthia G. Moran	Professor	$122,102.47
Therese Schuepfer	Professor	$121,928.21
Sargon J. Al-Bazi	Unit Director	$121,671.33
Ann M. McNabb	Unit Director	$119,600.43
Suleyma Perez	Unit Director	$119,393.58
Jean T. Potillo	Unit Director	$119,044.03
Rasoul Rezvanian	Professor	$118,793.41
Michael M. Dizon	Senior Officer	$118,341.06
Francisco D. Iacobelli	Assistant Professor	$117,679.61
Erick J. Howenstine	Unit Director	$116,968.65
Blase E. Masini	Unit Director	$116,608.05
Richard Kilpatrick	Assistant Professor	$116,516.53
Timothy R. Libretti	Unit Director	$116,061.07
David Yasutake	Professor	$115,517.80
Brett Stockdill	Unit Director	$115,358.25
James L. Thompson	Unit Director	$115,170.53
Anna Mitina	Professor	$115,109.62
Jade Stanley	Unit Director	$114,802.87
Moira E. Stuart	Associate Professor	$114,552.14
Lee Beaty	Professor	$114,289.93
Huong T. Le	Assistant Professor	$114,048.56
Saba Ayman-Nolley	Unit Director	$113,680.47
Cris E. Toffolo	Unit Director	$112,492.23
F M. Specht	Senior Officer	$111,582.90
Ana Fraiman	Professor	$110,874.82
Louise A. Bohr	Professor	$110,753.14
Ozair Noor	Unit Director	$110,426.46
Jeffrey Hill	Unit Director	$109,882.65
Katrina E. Bell-Jordan	Senior Officer	$109,395.00
John W. Cappeck	Unit Director	$109,329.72
Nancy A. Matthews	Professor	$108,916.57
Terry Stirling	Professor	$108,489.44
Brian Schultz	Unit Director	$107,887.80
John Kasmer	Unit Director	$107,711.85
Ellen S. Cannon	Professor	$107,376.62
Paul A. Schroeder	Unit Director	$107,035.11
Lawrence N. Berlin	Unit Director	$106,890.27
Patrick B. Miller	Professor	$106,216.48
Bradley R. Ginn	Unit Director	$106,210.50
Charles N. Pistorio	Unit Director	$105,733.14
Lynn H. Bush	Professor	$105,657.58
Rodney G. Higginbotham	Professor	$105,601.07
Lisa A. Hollis-Sawyer	Associate Professor	$105,577.32
Richard W. Hallett	Professor	$104,265.49
Sung D. Kim	Assistant Professor	$104,257.36
Steven M. Wolk	Professor	$103,977.62
Mei-Whei Chen	Professor	$103,727.89
Paulo H. Acioli	Unit Director	$103,452.33
Denise L. Cloonan	Professor	$103,159.05
Richard S. Cofer	Unit Director	$103,017.57
Sandra D. Beyda	Unit Director	$102,831.30
Jeanine Ntihirageza	Unit Director	$102,656.56
Fe L. Lenon	Unit Director	$102,433.50
Emina A. Stojkovic	Associate Professor	$102,169.57
Vicki F. Byard	Professor	$101,598.34
Gerald D. Green	Senior Officer	$101,439.00
Job E. Ngwe	Professor	$101,427.37
Sara Schwarzbaum	Professor	$101,324.43
Kenneth T. Nicholson	Associate Professor	$100,915.48
Rachel Adler	Assistant Professor	$100,870.81
Shencheng Xu	Professor	$100,737.13
April Nauman	Professor	$100,043.55

Source: Illinois Board of Higher Education