TODAY'S STUDENT BODY
Home > About Uni > Description & History > Today's Student Body
Today, about 60 percent of Uni students participate in fine arts activities, and the school’s “no-cut” athletic policies encourage about 65 percent to participate in sports.
As in the early days of the school, virtually all graduates go on to college, although some defer their college careers for a year or two in favor of service programs in this country or travel, both near and far. Alumni data show that about 40 percent of Uni High graduates earn bachelor’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a figure that has remained fairly constant for several decades.
While some outside the school perceive Uni as a school for children of U of I faculty, in fact only about one-third of the students enrolled in the 1990s have a faculty parent. Students from as far away as Danville and Paxton attend the school and are integral to its diverse population. About 86 percent of current students reside in Champaign-Urbana.
The racial/ethnic makeup of the 2007-08 student body is 58% White, 27% Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% African-American, and 5% Hispanic, 1% Native American, and 4% Other. Uni is involved in a long-term effort to encourage even greater diversity among its student body. Hanging in the hallway at University High, just across from the Counseling Office, is a proclamation signed by students, parents, and teachers several years ago that states:
“We are committed to a school climate which respects and celebrates individual differences. We believe there is strength in diversity. We categorically oppose discrimination of all forms.”
As the school examines its laboratory mission and what it means today, Uni seems to be experiencing a renewed sense of interest from researchers in many disciplines across the U of I campus. Their requests to use Uni as a sample of culturally and racially diverse academically talented students are weighed carefully to make sure such research does not distract from the central mission of the school.
That mission states:
“As a catalyst for educational innovation, University Laboratory High School seeks to spark the creative fervor and high aspirations of talented young people; to inspire them to excellence; to challenge them through traditional and experimental strategies; to ignite their potential for active, responsible involvement in the adult world; and to influence positively the larger educational community.”
And while the early tuition charge of $25 at University Laboratory High School may seem difficult to comprehend in an age when gasoline costs more than $1 a gallon and a burger-for-less-than-a-buck is a bargain, it is important to note that since the mid-’80s, Uni has been a true public school which cannot charge tuition and makes no admission decisions on the basis of student ability to pay.
Today, the operating budget of University High School is funded from three main sources: Approximately 60 percent of its operating expenses is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education through the general state aid formula. The university provides salary support, utilities and building maintenance. Voluntary contributions from parents cover 25 percent of costs. Because it is not part of a local school district, Uni receives no local property tax dollars.
Instead, Uni parents contribute about $400,000 in tax-deductible donations a year to support the school while alumni, alumni parents, friends and corporate supporters donate another $75,000 to the annual fund and the Endowment Fund, begun in the 1980s. The Endowment is now approaching a market value of $200,000.
In addition, a number of alums have generously included University Laboratory High School in their estate plans and/or designated Uni as the recipient of memorial donations. For example, in early 1996, Eugene and Virginia Pomerance of Elmhurst, grandparents of Uni students Hannah Koenker, Class of 1995, and Emma Koenker, Class of 1998, who died due to a brain tumor the previous August, announced a gift of $100,000 to renovate the school’s three science laboratories on the third floor of the school as a way of showing their appreciation to the students and staff.
Annual book costs run about $400 per year, and additional fees are about $300. Because admission is never based on a student’s ability to pay, Uni is seeking corporate and individual underwriting for deserving students whose families cannot afford these costs.