Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget cuts will put a roadblock on the path NIU students take to get an education.

NIU was given about $93 million from the state for Fiscal Year 2015, but that would be cut by about $29.3 million to about $64 million with Rauner’s budget proposal. With as drastic a budget cut as that proposed by Rauner, NIU would have to make cuts to programs, professors and projects that have been in the works. All these things make for great educational experiences, and without them students will play thousands for an education that is sub par.

Cutting the funding given to NIU will negatively affect the students by not giving them the best education NIU can offer: The fewer professors NIU has the larger classes will be. With larger classes and fewer staff members, students will have less time to engage with their professors. This could also mean fewer classes are offered each semester and students have to attend NIU longer to be able to graduate.

On top of all that, NIU may have to raise tuition to increase revenue and make up for the funding cut. Baker has said he does not want to raise tuition because he thinks it will keep students from attending NIU; however, Wednesday he said NIU may have to if it faces so severe a budget cut. Baker said NIU will “have to see what deliberations come out of the Legislature.” He said NIU has set tuition for the 2015-16 academic year and he hopes NIU “would be able to keep it there” in the future.

Tuition is already expensive: Undergraduates paid $13,510 in tuition and fees in 2015, the third-highest amount among public Illinois universities.

Students, faculty and NIU administrators should be worried. NIU’s enrollment has been dropping — from 25,254 students in 2007 to 20,611 in the fall — and this budget cut isn’t going to make things better. If NIU has to raise tuition again, it runs the risk of losing more students.

When Rauner spoke about having every state agency freeze non-essential spending and cutting his salary to $1 and declining benefits, I cheered him on. But, cutting money from high education will result in employee layoffs and college being more expensive for students.