Interesting that the presentation says that the reason students leave are, “Romanticized ideas about place and price.”
Price:
I think that Illinois in-state vs. Wisconsin OOS is about $10,000/yr. Then I believe Illinois adds another $5-6k if you are in engineering, so difference is not as large as a many people imagine.
Furthermore, UIUC does very little to keep the best and brightest.
DD1 is a top student. She was offered money and special programs at Michigan offered her $80 k in unsolicited merit, Virginia offered Echols Scholar, Berkeley paid to fly her out for a visit and offered a Chancellor’s scholarship, a CS major, research, and housing. She applied to 4 Ivies and was admitted to 3 (one via likely letter) and waitlisted at 1 (she rejected it). Washington University (STL) had a Dean call her personally to discuss attending their school. All 3 Ivies were contacting her trying to be sure she was coming to their campus for admitted student days. Since this is cc: most of your kids probably had the same experiences. Schools were emailing and calling her like she was a recruited quarterback.
In contrast, Illinois offered her honors college via letter, but that was it. No money, no real effort to recruit her, it seemed like she was just a number to them. It was interesting to see that the very top schools made her feel like she really mattered to them, but her state flagship did not. I know what the other schools are doing is just marketing, but it matters. I am sure that UIUC view that as a win because they could free up one more seat for a Chinese student, but from the perspective of the state of Illinois, I think they are blowing it by letting the states best and brightest get away without a fight.