The UI and other state universities would receive no increase in funding from the state next fiscal year if the budget proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his annual address on Feb. 20 is approved by legislators. However, Blagojevich did propose funding several capital projects at the UI campuses, including renovations at Lincoln Hall and the petascale computing facility at Urbana, and supported transferring operation of the four state scientific surveys to the UI.
Blagojevich recommended that appropriations for state universities and financial aid programs – the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, the ISAC Monetary Award Program and Illinois Veteran Grant – remain at their FY08 levels for Fiscal Year 2009, which begins July 1.
The UI’s general fund appropriation for FY08 was $720.5 million. The state is the university’s single largest funding source, providing more than $1.16 billion of the UI’s $3.9 billion annual operating budget.
All legislative add-ons for the UI also were eliminated in the proposed operating budget, including $350,000 for Dixon Springs Agricultural Center.
“A lack of additional operating revenue creates a challenging situation given inflationary operational costs that the university faces, but we are realistic about the circumstances given the state’s budget situation and a soft economy,” UI President B. Joseph White said in a statement responding to the budget proposal. “This puts added pressure on tuition, fees and efficient university management to adequately fund the excellence and access that the U. of I.’s three campuses provide Illinois families. We will work with the governor and the Legislature for the best outcome we can achieve.”
Blagojevich proposed funding several capital projects at Urbana, including $60 million from the Build Illinois Bond Fund for costs associated with design and construction of the $208 million petascale computing facility, $55.1 million for renovating Lincoln Hall, $18.9 million for constructing a Post Harvest Crop Processing and Research Laboratory, and about half – $42 million – of the $90 million needed for constructing an Electrical and Computer Engineering Building.
Additionally, the UI also would receive $10.7 million for repairs and renovations at its three campuses, the top priority project in its capital budget.
“A state capital program is an urgent priority for the University of Illinois as we plan for the future and strive to maintain a 140-year investment by the state in facilities and equipment that are essential to fulfilling the university’s missions of teaching, research, public engagement, and economic development across our three campuses,” White said.
Statewide grant programs would stay at their FY08 levels or be reduced or eliminated in FY09 under Blagojevich’s proposed budget. Existing grant programs at the Illinois Board of Higher Education would remain at their FY08 levels; funding for Cook County Extension ($5.05 million in FY08) would be eliminated; IllinoisVENTURES, the UI’s technology commercialization company, would receive no funding; and grant funding for the Center for Applied Research would be reduced by $135,000 to $4.2 million.
Blagojevich proposed restructuring the state’s pension systems by refinancing high-interest debt with low-interest pension obligation bonds, a plan he said would pump $16 billion in assets into the five state pension funds immediately, save the state $55 billion over the next 36 years and increase the funded ratio of the pension plans from 63 percent to 75 percent.
