Chicago and Illinois get high marks for the number of students completing college degree programs and the percentage of residents with degrees, but earns failing grades for the spiraling cost of higher education.

 That is according to the latest study released by The National Center of Higher Education.

According to the report card released every two years by the nonpartisan think tank, Chicago and Illinois earned a:

- "B" for preparing students for college. While 95 percent of whites in Illinois have a high school degree, only 74 percent of Hispanics and 82 percent of blacks do.

- "C" for participation. Students are less likely than in past years to enroll in college, especially among minorities. Just 25 percent of young-adult Hispanics and 29 percent of blocks are enrolled, compared to 45 percent of college-age whites.

- "B" for college completion. Illinois' performance has improved in this category since 2006. Overall, nearly two-thirds of students who start an undergraduate program finish it in six years or fewer. But the gap between blacks and whites is one of the largest in the nation, according to the report.

- "B" for benefits. While a third of white residents have a college degree, only a fifth of all Hispanics in the state and a tenth of all blacks can claim the same credentials.

Chicago and Illinois colleges, like colleges across the nation, flunk when it comes to affordability, according to the report. Poor and working-class families must devote 37 percent of their income, even after aid, to pay for costs at two-year colleges, according to the report. For every dollar in Pell Grant aid to students, the state spends 82 cents - down from 89 cents in 1993, despite significant tuition increases.

A spokeswoman for the National Center on Higher Education was not able to comment on the report.

Steve Morse, a spokesman for the Illinois Community College Board, says the report is “fair” and acknowledges that tuition is higher than some people can afford.

 He says that in the last five years, community college tuition statewide has risen an average of 30 percent. The City Colleges of Chicago recently voted to start raising its tuition by 24 percent over the next three years, though its tuition has been unchanged since 2006.

Morse said with tuition rising and financial aid failing to keep pace, there’s anecdotal evidence that some low-income students aren’t even applying to community colleges anymore.

“There’s not enough aid available to let them go into a community college,” Morse says, a trend he expects to become more pronounced in the next few years

One problem for schools in Illinois is a lack of state funding, a complaint heard often at City Colleges meetings.

“It’s intended that the state would fund about a third of our resources, tuition about a third and property taxes about a  third, but that’s not really what’s happening,” said Ken Gotsch, the district’s finance director, during a meeting earlier this month.

And with the deepening recession, that equation may not change for the better anytime soon.

“When there’s a downturn in the economy, then the money that goes (from the state) to community colleges and other higher education institutions generally will fall off,” Morse says. “They need the money the most, they’re not getting it.”

The report sets an exceptionally high bar – or low cost – for schools to qualify as affordable. While it compiles data for all community colleges in Illinois, it does not break down tuition costs by specific colleges.

The statewide average for a year’s tuition at a community college is about $2,400, according to the report, a quarter of the cost of tuition at state four-year colleges and slightly more than a tenth of the average tuition at private four-year schools.

A year’s tuition at the City Colleges of Chicago is about $2,500, according to the district.

The think tank gave just one state a passing grade on affordability. California, where a year of community college tuition costs an average of $600, earned a “C” grade in the report.