©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| State Universities Make Pleas in Springfield |
(IRN)-More university heads converged on the Capitol this week to make a case for their Fiscal Year 2012 budgets, and two major state schools were asking for vastly different things.
Illinois State University President Al Bowman, for example, wants a 9 percent increase in state funding for the next fiscal year. But Eastern Illinois University president William Perry is OK with a flat appropriation.
Bowman says his faculty and staff salaries are starting to fall behind the national averages due to freezes and cutbacks, and the school also has $500 million in deferred maintenance projects. He says his request is justifiable.
"Unless the state begins to reinvest in higher education, we are going to be faced year in and year out with raising tuition to not only cover cost increases, but to cover a larger portion of the state's share," Bowman testified.
He says ISU increased tuition for incoming students this year, which raised about $5.4 million. He says that barely covered its estimated decrease in state aid, and it was essentially a wash.
Eastern Illinois President William Perry hasn't decided whether he'll increase tuition next school year. He says the board of trustees will discuss that at its meeting next month. In the meantime, Perry says Eastern will continue its ongoing cost= cutting measures for the foreseeable future.
"We've got a hiring freeze. We're going to continue that," he says. "We're going to continue to look for cost cutting, conservation measures. Everything we can do with respect to being more efficient. My testimony was that we're going to continue that."
The state of Illinois currently owes Illinois State roughly $59 million of what it has already promised for this fiscal year, and it owes Eastern about $35 million.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
|
| 03 10 11 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
