The Illinois Public Higher Education Cooperative, “IPHEC” was officially founded as IPHEC on June 1, 1990. Prior to the reorganization of what was to become IPHEC, the Illinois Education Consortium in its initial form was comprised of the University of Illinois, the Board of Governors, the Illinois Community College Board, the Board of Regents and Southern Illinois University. Available records show that the IEC was formed in 1978 and in 1981 totaled 8.1 million in cumulative spend. Fast forward to Fiscal year 15 and IPHEC spend accounts for almost 300 million in total public institution spend. Regardless of the acronym the purpose has remained constant, to support and advance the collective activities of public institutions of higher education.