NIU officials are looking at how to deal with a potential cut in state aid. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s budget proposes reducing that aid by more than thirty percent.
Allan Phillips is NIU’s incoming vice president of Administration and Finance. Phillips says the governor’s budget is only the first step in what will be a months-long process. But he expects there will be a cut in state aid, one big enough to demand a response. He says NIU must be prepared.
“Over the next few weeks and months we will be looking at various scenarios for different levels of funding.”
Phillips says those scenarios could include a variety of options.
“The things you look at are hiring freezes, reducing expenditures, delaying purchases, those kinds of things.”
Phillips says the university has already been implementing changes to deal with drops in enrollment and the state’s income tax rate.
State aid to the school has been falling for more a decade. NIU President Doug Baker says that, at $93 million, it's currently less than 25 percent of NIU's overall budget of more than $400 million. But a cut of close to $30 million in one year would have an impact.
President Baker says he and the leaders of other state universities will be working with the governor and the legislature in an attempt to reduce the size of the cut in the state’s final budget.