Illinois lawmakers are set to reconvene this week, and college presidents are hoping they will make progress toward passing a budget. But even if they do, universities are facing a proposed 30 percent cut.
When I met last week with University of Illinois president Tim Killeen, however, he sounded calmly optimistic.
“It is time to fix this,” he said. "My expectation is that there will be a good outcome or a reasonable outcome in the January - February timeframe, at which time we will pick up the ball and run. And University of Illinois will go from strength to strength, I assure you of that.”
While Illinois has been operating without a budget, public universities have been using their reserves to survive. Killeen says burning through savings at a rate of $75 million per month is not sustainable.
“I think there is now damage being done to the higher education sector. I think that damage starts to be irreparable quite soon,” he said. "So I believe that there has to be a sense of urgency now, felt in the executive and the legislative branch, to get this problem solved quickly.”
Killeen is touting a study showing the U of I contributes $14 billion to the state economy annually.
