President John La Tourette has outlined where he might have to trim NIU’s budget to accomodate proposed state government education budget cuts.

La Tourette said House cuts from $100,000,000 in state funds earmarked for NIU in a Senate bill would immediately translate to limiting spring admissions, cutting temporary faculty, stopping most maintenance work and halting some equipment and library purchases. A 2 percent cut in higher education funds has been widely rumored for months.

“We have some contingency plans in the event of a cut,” La Tourette said. “You take short-run measures to address cuts,” he said.

However, La Tourette said these would be stopgap measures while other long-term measures would be taken including cancelling some summer school programs and support services and a further increase in spring tuition, depending on the size of the cut. Tuition will already increase 5 percent at NIU in the fall, raising a full-time student’s tuition from $857 to about $900.

Complicating matters is the fact that continuance of the income tax surcharge is still not certain.

La Tourette said it has been difficult to find public support for extending the surcharge since Gov. Edgar’s victory last November.

Added to that is the problem of a proposition from House Education Appropriation Chairman Andrew McGann (D-Chicago) to cut $100 million, about 6 percent, from General Funds support of higher education. La Tourette has called this proposal a “charade” since it would almost offset the estimated $112 million a sucharge extension would supply.

“A 6 percent cut would be devastating,” La Tourette said.

However, La Tourette said the House will probably end up not cutting any more than 2 percent from the current Illinois General Fund and is hopeful they may not cut any money currently slated for higher education.

At an appropriations committee hearing last Thursday, La Tourette said he was concerned that budget cuts might also cause some faculty to leave Illinois due to lack of salary incentives. Regency Chancellor Roderick Groves also said other states often identify those states in education funding difficulty and target them for hiring.

However, Groves said, “One of the things cushioning that is that it is bad all over.”

We have some contingency plans in the event of a cut. You take short-run measures to address cuts.”