URBANA, Ill. (AP) - The University of Illinois is planning to try again for full state funding in fiscal 2018, which it hasn’t seen since 2015.
The university is also focusing on its efforts for a multiyear budget arrangement with Illinois, The News-Gazette (https://bit.ly/2f6LXbu ) reported. It plans to announce proposed legislation next week that would provide five years of guaranteed funding in exchange of hitting certain educational benchmarks.
Those benchmarks include limiting tuition increases to the rate of inflation, providing adequate financial aid or achieving certain graduation rates. In return, the university would receive guaranteed funding for five years, regulatory relief and procurement reform, which faculty members have requested to accelerate the process of buying research equipment and other materials.
University president Tim Killeen said during his annual meeting with faculty Monday that the institution has lost over $750 million in state funding in the last two years.
“That’s three-quarters of a billion dollars. That’s a lot,” Killeen said. “We are under huge stress, and Rome is burning around us. These are not normal times.”
University officials are scheduled to roll out the proposed new contract with the state at its board of trustees’ meeting Nov. 10.
“Imagine what we could do if we had that kind of predictable environment,” Killeen said.
The plan will be to report the university’s progress on the educational benchmarks each year, with information posted to the university’s website so it can be checked by legislators.
As of now the university has prepared a fiscal 2018 general state funding request which totals to $662.1 million, which is equal to its last full year of funding in 2015.
___
Information from: The News-Gazette, https://www.news-gazette.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.