Pensions and employee health insurance costs consumed nearly a quarter of Illinois’ fiscal year 2018 budget.

After a punishing 2017, Illinoisans are in dire need of reform from Springfield.

The Board of Trustees at Northern Illinois University granted a $600,000 severance package to outgoing university President Doug Baker, who resigned following a state investigation into his management of the university. But after a court struck down that agreement, the board is set to vote again.

Despite objections from faculty, one university chancellor is pressing for a campus restructuring that includes curbing the tuition-heightening costs of administrative bloat.

Six years into retirement, Ron Guenther’s annual pension is more than $470,000 and is set to rise even higher, thanks to 3 percent yearly increases.

Growth in administrative bloat is sucking up money that would otherwise go toward the classroom and tuition grants for low-income students in Illinois’ higher education system.

Illinois universities are blaming the recent budget impasse for their declining enrollment and financial problems. But the problems in higher education started long before the budget fight, and are largely self-inflicted.