Search

This report examines some of the costs of higher education and the benefits Illinois citizens receive in return. The study examines both public and private higher education and measures the impact on a state-wide basis. Data come from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and data collected by the Illinois State Board of Higher Education. Data contain direct costs of higher education, including costs to taxpayers and students, and costs paid by donations and endowments. The report highlights seven benefits of higher education: monetary benefits to students, benefits from university spending, benefits from student and visitor spending, additional state and local tax revenue, nonmonetary benefits to students and society, added productivity to society, and public service and outreach programs. Ten appendixes include a list Illinois colleges and universities; lifetime value of additional earnings; enrollment in Illinois colleges and universities, fall 1997; degrees and certificates awarded, academic year 1996-97; expenditures by Illinois colleges and universities; faculty and staff at Illinois colleges and universities, fall 1997; visitor survey; total expenditures by visitors, fiscal year 1999; direct and indirect expenditures and employment generated by student and visitor spending, fiscal year 1996; and calculation of specific nonmonetary benefits. There are illustrative vignettes throughout the report. (Each section of the report contains endnotes.) (SM)

The spike protein receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 is the molecular target for many vaccines and antibody-based prophylactics aimed at bringing COVID-19 under control. Such a narrow molecular focus raises the specter of viral immune evasion as a potential failure mode for these biomedical interventions. With the emergence of new strains of SARS-CoV-2 with altered transmissibility and immune evasion potential, a critical question is this: how easily can the virus escape neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) targeting the spike RBD? To answer this question, we combined an analysis of the RBD structure-function with an evolutionary modeling framework. Our structure-function analysis revealed that epitopes for RBD-targeting nAbs overlap one another substantially and can be evaded by escape mutants with ACE2 affinities comparable to the wild type, that are observed in sequence surveillance data and infect cells in vitro. This suggests that the fitness cost of nAb-evading mutations is low. We then used evolutionary modeling to predict the frequency of immune escape before and after the widespread presence of nAbs due to vaccines, passive immunization or natural immunity. Our modeling suggests that SARS-CoV-2 mutants with one or two mildly deleterious mutations are expected to exist in high numbers due to neutral genetic variation, and consequently resistance to vaccines or other prophylactics that rely on one or two antibodies for protection can develop quickly -and repeatedly- under positive selection. Predicted resistance timelines are comparable to those of the decay kinetics of nAbs raised against vaccinal or natural antigens, raising a second potential mechanism for loss of immunity in the population. Strategies for viral elimination should therefore be diversified across molecular targets and therapeutic modalities.