Illinois lawmakers pass $600 million university stopgap

CHICAGO Illinois’ cash-starved public universities and community colleges won a temporary financial reprieve on Friday after the state legislature approved a $600 million funding plan, offering a rare break in the state’s long-running budget stalemate.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is expected to sign the bill, which is a one-time deal and includes almost $170 million in tuition grants for low-income students. Already, some universities have had layoffs, and Chicago State University had expected to close its doors.

The measure provides $356 million to the universities, $74 million to community colleges and $170 million for Monetary Award Program grants, a state scholarship for needy students.

“The $600 million in funding for this legislation comes from the state’s Education Assistance Fund, which today has $354 million on hand”.

The bill, which provides funding for state universities and community colleges at about 30 percent of the previous year’s levels, may well be the only funding that these institutions end up receiving.

“We hope it is a harbinger of additional constructive conversations that will result in the passage of the overdue fiscal year 2016 budget and anticipated fiscal year 2017 state budget”, Applegate said, in an email.

In a statement Monday, the first-term governor said the law doesn’t solve the crisis but is “a first step toward compromise”.

Officials from Chicago State University and Northern Illinois University did not immediately respond to request for comment. As a state university, GSU is committed to providing high-quality, accessible, and responsible higher education opportunities.

ISU has been helping students with MAP grants money for tuition. That measure would fund many social service programs at 35 percent of what they received in fiscal year 2015.

But assurances by the Rauner administration that there would be a way to fund the bill helped to seal the deal, according to sources.

The U of I is the state’s largest educator, with a statewide presence and 80,000 students, and state funding for our operations accounts for 54 percent of the state’s appropriation for public universities.

After ten months without a budget, IL lawmakers approved $600 million to keep state colleges and universities open through the summer. Dunn said the budget impasse is causing many families to hold off on committing to attend IL schools. Budget Director Matt Bierman said this emergency money would ensure the university wouldn’t have to lay off anyone else.

The effort nearly failed Thursday night after debate over funding social services being added to the bill. It’s a school that serves a predominantly black student population and had announced it was on the brink of closing because of the lack of state money.

Rauner and Democratic lawmakers have been at odds over a state budget that should have taken effect July 1.