(Information provided by Illinois State University Media Relations)
You let us know after the first E-newsletter that you’d like to hear news of what’s happening at Illinois State in general. Unfortunately, there’s no more significant story these days than the budget woes ISU is experiencing, as are most universities around the country.
After several rounds of budget rescissions and cuts over the past year, Illinois State will start FY2003 with $8.7 million less than at the beginning of FY2002. President Victor Boschini has worked with all areas of campus, the Board of Trustees and our local and statewide legislative leaders to lessen the impact of this budget crisis. So far, the institution has responded to the cuts with reductions in operating budgets, hiring and travel restrictions, some class reductions, project and purchasing slowdowns and the deferring of salary decisions. Thus far the institution has avoided large-scale employee layoffs while maintaining the academic integrity of programs.
In terms of tuition, President Boschini noted that, “Illinois State has a history of keeping the investment in higher education as affordable as possible, but this bleak state financial picture has left us with no realistic options other than to impose an additional tuition increase.” In total, tuition for the 2002-2003 academic year will be 9.25 percent higher than last year. Under the increase, a student enrolled for 15 credit hours each semester will pay $4,857.10 in tuition and mandatory fees for the 2002-2003 academic year.
For more information on Illinois State’s budget situation, Illinois State
Media Relations has provided a special web site just for budget news:
www.mediarelations.ilstu.edu/budget/index.shtml.
