Illinois universities await overdue state funds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- The state's public universities are waiting for tens of millions of dollars in long-overdue state funding, but most say they're not ready to follow the University of Illinois' lead and furlough workers.

However, many are planning as if they don't expect the state to become a more reliable source of money anytime soon, if ever.

The U of I said Tuesday that 11,000 faculty and staff members will have to take four days off without pay this spring, part of a plan to trim $82 million in spending while it waits for $436 million in overdue state appropriations. Illinois is wrestling with a state budget deficit that could top $11 billion this year.

Other state schools are owed smaller amounts, but with annual budgets much smaller than the U of I's $4.7 billion -- 15.9 percent of which comes from the state -- the money is often more significant.

At Southern Illinois, 55 percent of the $420 million budget is supposed to come from the state.

But it became clear months ago that SIU couldn't count on the money, at least not on time, said Rod Sievers, a spokesman for the Carbondale campus.

"Our guys could see what was coming because we hadn't gotten any appropriation money from the state," he said. "The university implemented what started out as a soft hiring freeze very early in the fall semester."

Now the state owes SIU $100 million, and the freeze has become more absolute, Sievers said. But there are no plans for furloughs or layoffs, he said.

"We're going to be good through March as far as payroll or whatever," he said. "After that, though, it's gonna look pretty grim."

Similarly, at Western Illinois in Macomb, state money accounts for 48 percent of the $123.9 million budget. Payments are $30 million behind but the school says it's cutting back on new hires and travel rather than considering furloughs or layoffs.

And Illinois State in Normal counts on the state for $85.1 million -- 23 percent -- of its $363.7 million budget. The state so far has provided $12.3 million. But President Al Bowman said the school froze wages last fall and plans neither layoffs nor furloughs.

Gov. Pat Quinn said this week that universities should start seeing some money after the state does a round of borrowing this month.

But that's a short-term plan for what higher education officials say is a long-term problem.

Even before Illinois' budget crisis, public universities here -- and in other states -- have seen their state support drop for years.

Given Illinois' financial situation, few if any expect improvement anytime soon.

"My sense is that we certainly cannot count on the state coming up with greatly increased revenue in any time in the near future," said Joyce Tolliver, an associate professor of Spanish at the University of Illinois and chair of its Faculty Senate executive committee. She's one of the thousands who will be furloughed for four days this semester.

Universities, she said, are looking for ways to raise more money -- which usually means raising tuition and seeking more donations -- and spend less, which Tolliver says often means increasing class sizes.

None are good options, Tolliver said. Tuition increases in particular are already a sensitive issue at Illinois, where room and board costs more than $20,000 a year.

"Our tuition is getting uncomfortably close to the tuition paid at some private schools," she said.

Northern Illinois spokeswoman Melanie Magara says state support has been dwindling for 10 or more years.

But on Northern's campus in Dekalb, the concern this week was more immediate. With the U of I's announcement and NIU's own $62 million backlog in state funding -- the state is supposed to provide a quarter of NIU's $435 million budget -- faculty and staff feared they might face cutbacks or layoffs.

Neither are planned since NIU has frozen hiring and travel expenses, she said, but school leaders can't make any promises.

"I think they'll continue to assess this on a day-by-day, week-by-week and month-by-month basis," Magara said.