State of Illinois funding issues

[uniftw]

With so many Illinois schools in the conference I thought I'd create one thread to be able to track what's going on and how it will impact our conference mates. For those unfamiliar with Illinois - it's broke. Schools are being but tens of millions of dollars, may end up closing, firing hundreds of employees, cutting programs, etc...


SIU announces 180 potential layoffs, broad cuts to programs, services
http://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu/a ... a98ad.html

CARBONDALE — Southern Illinois University will lose 180 faculty members and staffers and reduce or eliminate support for a bevy of programs and services if Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed 20 percent cut to public higher education holds muster in fiscal year 2017.

President Randy Dunn announced the potential cost reductions in an email to employees Wednesday afternoon.

In total, cuts to the Carbondale campus amount to $22.86 million. The SIU system would see $46.54 million in reductions and a total loss of 481 positions, not including student jobs and graduate assistantships.

In addition to the 180 layoffs, which amount to a $5.5 million savings, university officials also would:

• Eliminate academic programs and reduce the number of classes offered by 400. That decrease in options, administrators note, could increase the time it takes students to graduate

• Eliminate more than 300 student jobs, including on-campus jobs and assistantships for graduate students. The cuts comprise 7 percent of existing student employment opportunities

• Merge four colleges into two, eliminating two deans and support staffers in the process

• Cut men’s and women’s tennis

• Reduce hours at Morris Library, closing the building on Saturday and reducing journal acquisitions by 40 percent

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• Reduce funding for counseling services, retention efforts and programs that benefit underserved populations

• Reduce state support of WSIU-TV to the tune of nearly $200,000

• Eliminate state funding for Touch of Nature, University Press, University Museum and the Center for Dewey Studies

• Reduce funding by nearly $900,000 for student research opportunities, including less support for 23 research centers and institutes

Administrators have not yet identified which employees specifically would be laid off. That will require a review of teaching loads for tenured and tenure-track faculty.

If lawmakers fail to pass an FY17 budget by Dec. 31, the university can expect $5.72 million in additional cuts, including elimination of all state support to the School of Law and to the vice chancellor for development and alumni relations.

One-third of the School of Law’s budget is derived from state support. Eliminating those funds from the vice chancellor’s office could result in the loss of 50 additional jobs. Administrators warned private support for SIU may wane if that office’s size is diminished.

This story will be updated.

[ShoxINDST]

I'm going to school in Indiana for agriculture and have thought about transferring to SIU Carbondale because they have a highly respectful Ag program. This is some information to give to my buddy who are thinking about going

[uniftw]

I'm going to school in Indiana for agriculture and have thought about transferring to SIU Carbondale because they have a highly respectful Ag program. This is some information to give to my buddy who are thinking about going

Chicago State is likely closing
Western Illinois sounds like they are getting hit as hard/harder than SIU.
No final word on what impact at ISUR is coming, yet, but they may fair better at the start than others. Long term? No idea

[ShoxINDST]

Wow that's crazy what heck even happened to Illinois? I mean has this been a longtime thing going on? I'm 23 and I remember in high school I had friends going to high school and Illinois and they said things were getting cut because no money. Cutting teachers and making other teachers teach subjects they never taught before. Sad situation which will impact education

[squirrel]

It's unusual only from the standpoint the legislature is holding the governor hostage, and therefore education money is being held hostage.

It's not unusual in that Illinois can't and has no intention of ever being able to pay its bills.

The sky isn't really falling for the Valley level schools...Illinois really doesn't need as many state colleges as it has anymore. Once they cut the fat, things for the Valley schools will be back to normal.

[PurpleAcesFootball]

Definitely something to keep an eye on.

I wondered about SIU-E's decision to go D-1 a few years ago. If the state could support another program. The hope was that it would bring in donations.

I could see some consolidation of schools in the future: SIU-C, SIU-E, WIU, EIU, NIU may all become part of the UI system rather than standalone research universities. They could become branch campuses, similar to UI-Springfield (D-2) and UI-Chicago.

Adopt a model similar to SUNY, California, or Texas.... of course this may be too logical for Illinois.

[squirrel]

Definitely something to keep an eye on.

I wondered about SIU-E's decision to go D-1 a few years ago. If the state could support another program. The hope was that it would bring in donations.

I could see some consolidation of schools in the future: SIU-C, SIU-E, WIU, EIU, UNI may all become part of the UI system rather than standalone research universities. They could become branch campuses, similar to UI-Springfield (D-2) and UI-Chicago.

Adopt a model similar to SUNY, California, or Texas.... of course this may be too logical for Illinois.

SUNY and California systems have the same problem as Illinois. One huge difference though is Illinois has a lot of colleges (community and four-year) in the Chicago area that it really doesn't need, such as Governor's State, Chicago State.

Northeastern Illinois was a short-time commuter DI school in the mid-to-late 1990's, and they decided to drop athletics. They have recently begun to build on-campus residencies. They also had the NCAA slam dunk champ, Andrell Hoard, during their short DI stint.

[Redhawk]

The budget standoff in Springfield is making this a dire situation for all Illinois Public Institutions
but there are other issues as well. Enrollment has been trending down for all the directional schools...
Northern IL, EIU, WIU, SIU,NorthEasternIU for some time now. With newcomers like SIU-E and Governors State there are just too many redundant State Universities in Illinois within a declining market.

Fortunately for Illinois State University (and UIC) enrollment has remained consistent at 20000 students while continuing to increase the academic profile of incoming students. They are in a much more stable place than the directional schools... but in a state like Illinois strange things happen when politics are involved!

[UNIFanSince1983]

I was unaware there was even a school called Govenors State University...

[mathewson10]

It's unusual only from the standpoint the legislature is holding the governor hostage, and therefore education money is being held hostage.

Two-way street here. The governor is holding the legislature hostage by vetoing any secondary school funding.