The university has made up that difference by increasing tuition and increasing efficiency.

NIU President Doug Baker said his administration is doing a number of things to try and change this, like separating the facilities and human resources activities from the financing budget activities. He also went to Springfield last week to meet with legislators and Gov. Pat Quinn to advocate for higher education funding for public universities and Monetary Award Program funding for Illinois’ neediest college students.

University funding

“My goal in Springfield was to meet some of the key leaders in both the House and the Senate and get to know the governor a little bit,” Baker said. “We wanted the legislators and the governor to see our students and the challenges they’re facing with the budget reductions and MAP funding.”

Student Association President Jack Barry accompanied Baker on his trip to Springfield. Barry said income tax and pension reform will be huge factors that will play a role in next year’s budget.

“Those are things we can’t control. The things we can control are recruitment and retention,” Barry said. “We want to give our students a reason to stay on campus.”

The state gave NIU $94 million, a reduction from the year before. Baker said even though there was inflation, the government didn’t give NIU or other universities an inflation increase, and the faculty and staff haven’t had a raise for years. This has created competition issues for NIU when it comes to finding quality staff.

“We want to recruit and retain great faculty and staff, and if there are competitors out there that have increasing salaries while ours gets farther and father behind, that makes us vulnerable to them leaving,” Baker said.

Baker said the university has tried to manage with the budget cuts as gracefully as possible.

“We’ve tried to manage it without closing programs or laying off faculty and staff by being very conservative,” Baker said.

State Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, said the battle is to get the state’s priorities back on track.

“We’re putting money into the university and we’re investing in students,” Pritchard said.

MAP grant funding

Baker said the amount of money students received this year in MAP grant money was about the same compared to last year.

“I think it’s an area that people want to put more money in,” Baker said. “Here’s the problem: It’s in a discretionary category so it’s not an area that’s guaranteed funding.”

Students received grants from $605 to $5,645 this year. The grants are awarded based on a student’s need. Funding for MAP grants was one area Barry addressed during the visit to Springfield.

“We wanted to help relay the message about income tax and MAP grant funding,” Barry said.

Alternative funding

Baker said when it comes to tuition he doesn’t think much more can be asked from the students. A student taking 12 credit hours for the fall semester at NIU would be expected to pay at least $5,770 in tuition, general fees and expenses.

“I think tuition has gotten to a level where it’s difficult for students, so we’re studying financial aid to see if there’s more effective ways to help students,” Baker said.

Pritchard said more students are going to community college for the first two years because it’s cheaper than attending a four-year school.

“The worst-case scenario is that college is out of reach for middle-class Americans, and we’ve already reached that point,” Pritchard said. “A lot of people are graduating with big debts because of the costs, and that’s got to stop.”

NIU’s total enrollment fell 3.3 percent to 21,138 in fall 2013. Fall 2012 enrollment was 21,869. Baker said the university will have to work on retention and recruitment.

“It’s going to help students succeed and have successful lives,” Baker said. “That will increase our number of students, and that will potentially increase our revenue that can dissipate some of the impacts of the budget reduction.”