Presidents from the University of Illinois, Western Illinois
University and Eastern Illinois University were at the Illinois
Capitol on Wednesday to once again talk about their need for state
funding.The three schools are owed millions, and the payments
have been delayed for months.
U of I Interim President Stanley Ikenberry said the lack of
money, and the uncertainty of when more money may arrive, has forced
him to tap into every available dollar.
"It's been raining all year and the reserves are exhausted," he
said. "Basically it's been tuition money from students and parents
that's allowed us to meet our payroll for the next several months."
Ikenberry had predicted a 20 percent tuition increase because of
the university's budget problems. He now expects that tuition
increase for new students next fall to be closer to 9 percent.
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Eastern Illinois University President Bill Perry is also backing
away from an earlier prediction of a higher tuition hike, though he
said the cost of a semester of classes will go up for incoming
freshman.
"Next year our tuition increase is going to be less than in the
past," he said. "That's just part of a recognition of the times that
we're in, the income profiles of our students' families and so on.
We need to find other sources of revenue."
Perry isn't saying what that other source of revenue might be,
but he thinks schools across the state need to be realistic about
just how long it might be before Illinois is able to pay all of its
bills again.
"I think as universities we need to realize that we cannot depend
all the time on state funding," he said.
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Al Goldfarb, president at Western Illinois University in Macomb,
said he doesn't see a quick end or a quick replacement for the
missing millions from the state.
Goldfarb joined Gov. Pat Quinn at a ribbon-cutting for a new WIU
campus in the Quad Cities earlier this month, but the school is
still waiting for a check for the main campus.
"My hope is that we get those payments as soon as possible," he
said. "But we also know we're going to be reduced next year, if what
the governor recommends is what passes. ... For Western (Illinois
University) that's about a 6.8 percent reduction. So our concern is
both about that reduction and having the same kind of cash-flow
problem next year."
Quinn has proposed $1.3 billion in cuts to education from grade
school through grad school. He says a 1 percent "surcharge for
education" is the key to fully funding education. But lawmakers, who
see the governor's plan as a 33 percent income tax increase, are
less than supportive of the plan.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]
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