DeKALB | The Board of Trustees carried a motion approving the Fiscal Year 2018 budget request of $91,092,700 which will be prepared and submitted to the Illinois Board of Higher Education for approval in the fall of FY17.

The board carried this motion during a 20-minute, Thursday meeting in Altgeld Hall, Room 315. The budget guidelines outline where the requested money will be allocated, including $2.5 million for funding priority requests, the items NIU considers most urgent for FY18.

“The real challenge is that this is the level of funding we received in [FY15],” said Alan Phillips, vice president of administration and finance. “Because of the budget impasse in Springfield, we don’t know how much money we’ll receive for [FY18].”

The year-long impasse resulted from state lawmakers disagreeing with Gov. Bruce Rauner on a budget for FY16. Until the budget passed in June, state budget appropriations could not be dispersed, including funding for higher education.

Phillips said NIU requested the same amount in the FY15 budget submitted to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. He said that FY15 was the last time NIU received full funding and that NIU is hopeful of FY18.

The priority requests in the budget are broken down into four categories: teacher preparation in science, technology, engineering and math areas, nursing and medical laboratory sciences, health information management and expanding engineering pathway programs with community colleges.

“With this budget, we want to do things like create some new degree programs, including a new Health Information Management degree,” Phillips said.

The Health Information Management degree is an attempt to combine information science, computer science and health care. It hopes to provide students with skills needed to compete in health fields with high demand according to the budget request guidelines.

“I think [the Health Information Management degree] would be a great idea because it would give people an option to work their way up the ladder,” sophomore nursing major Justyna Jaworski said. “It would give them a chance to get a higher-level position in their career for someone who’s interested in leading a hospital.”

The budget request outlines projects requesting state funding such as renovations and repairs. One request outlined in the budget is for the renovation of Wirtz Hall at $20,206 and is listed as NIU’s second priority. The first priority is a request for $66,452 which will fund a new Health Informatics and Technology Center. The Wirtz Hall renovation will attempt to provide upgraded housing for the College of Health and Human Sciences, according to the budget request guidelines.

The board also approved an additional 25 items including reports from FY16 and individual board summary reports. With FY17 approaching, the board said it’s right where it should be in terms of scheduling and planning for the next fiscal year.

“We are working hard to manage our budget in the best possible way,” Phillips said. “We’re working with legislature and trying to continue to facilitate our students’ success.”