UI students from Illinois embrace home-state rivalry

When Roberto Paniagua was a University of Iowa freshman, he wasn't quite sure who to root for when the Hawkeyes took on Illinois and Northwestern.

It didn't take the Illinois native long to adjust his loyalties.

“Eventually you get your Hawkeye spirit going, and you realize who the right team is to cheer for,” said the 20-year-old UI junior from Westchester, Ill. He'll sport black and gold at today's game against Northwestern.

Some UI students joke that Iowa City is a suburb of Chicago, given how many students from that metro 200 miles to the east enroll here. For the past five years, students from Illinois have made up 29 percent to 33 percent of the freshmen each fall.

The large Illinois contingent in Iowa City makes Hawkeye game days even more fun when opponents from their home state come to town, the students say.

“There's definitely a rivalry,” said UI junior Steve Pasdiora, an Arlington Heights, Ill., native. “I get a lot of text messages, my phone is blowing up throughout the game from all my friends.”

Pasdiora, 21, grew up 20 minutes from Northwestern's Evanston campus. He considered Northwestern, along with the University of Illinois, but ultimately chose Iowa after campus visits.

The UI's out-of-state tuition is comparable to in-state tuition at many Illinois schools, Pasdiora said, one draw for students. Other students also mentioned the UI's proximity to the Chicago area, the small-town yet vibrant feel of Iowa City and the fact that the UI is the smallest public university in the Big Ten Conference.

Thirty percent, or 1,358 students, of the first-year class this fall is from Illinois, the UI's top feeder state after Iowa. The next largest feeder state is Minnesota, with 120 first-year students. Of the 2,011 non-resident UI freshmen, 68 percent are from Illinois.

Compare that with Iowa State University, which enrolled 378 freshmen from Illinois, about 9 percent of the class. Illinois is ISU's second-largest feeder state for non-resident students, behind Minnesota.

Out-of-state students pay more than three times as much in tuition, so they certainly help the bottom line. The UI has the second-lowest out-of-state tuition in the Big Ten, admissions director Mike Barron said. (Minnesota's is lowest.)

The UI for decades has had strong admissions from Illinois, Barron said. “We're accessible, we're Big Ten, we're out of state,” he said. “So the word spreads.”

UI senior Annie Galus recalls her Glen Ellyn, Ill., high school paper publishing a map each year of where graduates were attending college. She was always struck by how many planned to attend the UI.

Galus, a 22-year-old elementary education major, chose Iowa after a campus visit urged by her parents. They will be in Iowa City to attend the game with her today for UI Family Weekend.

“I haven't missed a home game in four years. I'm a pretty big fan,” Galus said. “I do like playing other schools from Illinois, especially the University of Illinois. It's a pretty fun rivalry I have with a lot of my friends.”