By Jennifer Nunez

For eight years the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has endured much from the State of Illinois: budget cuts, flat operating budgets or miniscule increases, cash rescissions (give-backs to the state) and, until one finally was created this year, no capital budget for infrastructure, according to UIC Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares.

In the current crisis, sevenand-a-half months into the academic year, UIC has received less than ten percent of its state allocation. The situation shows no signs of improvement, despite the fact that “state funding is critical to the instructional enterprise,” said Allen-Meares.

UIC has been promised approximately $750 million from the State of Illinois for Fiscal 2010 (July 2009 through June 2010). Currently, the state owes UIC $450 million. “It is highly possible if they don’t give us any of the remaining money they will be behind $700 million in total,” said Philip Patston, PhD, head of the executive committee of the UIC Senate.

“This will make it very hard for the university to function at all.” The state currently is not even meeting its monthly, let alone annual, obligation, although “If they give us $60 million or so a month until end of year, the university will be able to survive,” Patston stated. “Even though we have a budget that was approved by the state, they are just not paying.”

The current crisis is part of a long-term problem of underfunding higher education in Illinois.

“This needs to be addressed,” said Patston, noting the university is an important employer and that the students it educates and graduates are vital to the state.

“It is an economic engine,” Patston said. “We are not a luxury. We are essential to the state.”

$1 becomes $17

According to a 2008 study, economists said that, for every dollar the state invests in the university, it produces $17 worth of economic impact. They also estimated that, every year, simply by spending the money it takes for the university to function, the university pumps more than $13 billion into the Illinois economy and supports 154,000 in-state jobs. The inability to get money the state owes it has led the university to furlough faculty and staff on certain days — meaning they are not allowed to come to work and do not get paid.

“This causes disruption to the students and patients,” said Patston. Professors and mentors are unavailable when students may need them, and healthcare in the university’s medical colleges is less available. Many faculty and staff are using this as an opportunity to educate UIC students and workers about the fiscal crisis, according to Patston.

Such efforts include A Day of Education in Defense of Public Education, which will be held Monday, March 8, to inform elected officials about the university’s situation. For information, go to http://uicjointfurlough.wordpress.com.

“Our main concern about the financial crisis is that we do not want to disrupt the students’ education,” Patston explained, noting the financial crisis may cause the university to offer fewer programs and courses than it currently does.

“Quality of what we do will stay the same,” he said. “But the university may have to save money and shrink. It just won’t be able to do as many things for as many people. The accessibility to a quality education could be put out of reach.”

Besides furlough days, UIC has cut back expenditures as much as possible, including saving on salaries through a hiring freeze. “We are closely reviewing our processes and considering other ways of doing more with less through attrition, voluntary separations, and job reclassifications,” said Allen-Meares. Currently, officials are performing an administrative review of organization and delivery of services at all levels and will propose ways to improve performance and reduce costs.

“This review’s recommendations could lead to job losses,” she said.

Tuition hikes possible

Patston said tuition hikes “probably will have to happen,” but “we would not want that to be the solution.” Housing costs likely will rise as well. The University of Illinois board of trustees sets tuition but has not determined what it will be for 2010–2011.

The loss of cash flow also has caused the university to make many unwanted changes across academic offerings and prevented the school from investing in new programs.

“We have, over this period, made a number of painful but strategic cuts to programs and services,” said Allen-Meares. Six years ago, the UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work stopped accepting new undergraduate students, and UIC closed its Humanities Laboratory, which had been established in 2001 to make humanities research available to the public through collaborations with museums, libraries, and other institutions. Two years ago UIC had to close a special patient dental care clinic that treated persons living with HIV/AIDS. Some have suggested treating fewer patients or enrolling fewer students, but Patston said, “there are no plans for anything like that so far as I know.”

The school’s buildings also have suffered from the crisis because UIC has less money to invest in infrastructure. Also, “Maintenance is a problem…and without the funds from the state, will be hard to fix” because structural problems that go unrepaired get worse. For example, one UIC building had a serious water problem; many others have problems with heating, cooling, and ventilation; and steam and water facilities at the hospital are breaking down.

“The hospital had to run on generators one day,” said Patston. At University Hall, UIC’s tallest building, concrete is falling off and scaffolding now surrounds the building to protect those walking outside the structure. Meanwhile, what goes on inside UIC’s buildings may be in jeopardy as well. With the budget crisis, “top scientists and researchers will not want to come here anymore,” Patston said.

Allen-Meares recently joined with presidents and chancellors from Illinois’s other state-assisted universities and campuses to present a joint letter to Governor Patrick Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes asking them to commit to a payment schedule of their appropriated funds in order to forestall further impact on the institutions.

“We also urged the governor and comptroller to commit to swift action to resolve the state’s financial crisis,” said Allen-Meares. The state’s deficit currently stands at $12 billion.

“I hope the public will support us by calling on all of our elected officials to support public higher education in Illinois,” Allen-Meares said.