NIU employee paychecks, paid out of the Illinois general funds account, amounted to $56,750,000 in fiscal year 1987, said Rick Davis, press secretary for the state of Illinois.

A total of 2,931 employees from NIU were paid $6,474,426 out of the general funds account in August 1988, and 70 people were added to the payroll list the second half of the month.

Davis said there was a four percent increase from July to August in employees of all state agencies. Most of the increase was due to the hiring of college and university employees at the beginning of each new semester of classes.

“There is an annual cyclical increase in university employees,” Davis said. The numbers go up in August, before the start of the school year, and decrease in May because many employees do not work during summer school.

Although there has been a 0.5 percent increase in the number of employees in all state agencies, excluding educational institutions, there has been a decrease in the total number of educational employees from 1987 to 1988.

Davis said the number of higher education teachers statewide has remained relatively stable during the past several years, but last year’s budget cuts might have contributed to the decrease in teachers in 1988.

Compared to NIU’s gross monthly wages of $6,474,426, Illinois State University paid its 1,899 employees $4,384,478 in August; Southern Illinois University spent $11,449,495 paying its 3,791 employees (including both the Carbondale and Edwardsville campuses); and Western Illinois University paid its 998 employees $2,735,908.

Not all people employed by a university are paid out of the general funds account. Other university funds, such as alumni contributions, are used for paying people.