Monday, March 30, 2015

U of I system hit with funding cuts

State lawmakers filled gaps left in this fiscal year's budget, and as a result state funded agencies are struggling to deal with less money in these final months.

State universities, such as the University of Illinois, say the state has already missed payments to them. Currently the U of I school system is owed just under $300 million dollars. Funds the school's Spokesman Tom Hardy says that they don't expect to see for a very long time.

"I think the university expected that something was going to take place in this regard. What remained unknown was just exactly how much," said Hardy.

Under this new law Governor Bruce Rauner is allowed to sweep special funds, and with the addition of a 2.25 percent cut across the board for state government, entities like public school are having their funding slashed. For U of I that totals up to roughly $15 million.

"We are never always quite sure at UIS what the impact on us will be because we are one of the three main campuses and we are not the majority of the spending that the campuses do," said Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Springfield Ryan Williams.

"We should not feel an impact in the classroom or the research labs," said Hardy when asked about the impact the university is expecting. He continued to say, "Except that maybe were not going to be able to put a new layer of paint or a tuck point here or there for the time being."

The story was reported by WICS-TV 20 on March 28, 2015.

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