The Illinois Board of Higher Education approved its fiscal year 2005 higher education budget recommendation Tuesday morning at the College of Lake County in Grayslake.

The budget includes $5,002.89 per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) student for NIU. The allocation is $2,698 less than Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; $1,815.85 less than the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and $7,826.47 less than the University of Illinois at Chicago. It is $552.13 more per student than Illinois State University.

FTE enrollments are calculated by dividing the total number of undergraduate credit hours by 15 and graduate credit hours by 12.

NIU President John Peters said he does not think the state appropriately funds NIU.

"I have been arguing for three years now that the funding model does not accommodate our growth," Peters said. "Also, there were periods of times where other institutions received more money and Northern Illinois was really held back."

IBHE board chair James Kaplan said that the board’s staff involves each university in the budget process.

"Those processes come about in budget meetings between our staff and each university," Kaplan said. "We go through them with a fine-toothed comb."

Kaplan was satisfied with the budget because it reallocates $27 million to teaching without an overall increase.

"It’s the best we could do in a time that’s really rough," Kaplan said.

The budget process at the IBHE is overseen by Daniel Layzell, deputy director for Planning and Budgeting.

"Part of our job is to try to reconcile what we know to be the needs of higher education within the broader reality of what the governor and General Assembly are dealing with," Layzell said. "What we’ve tried to do is set forth what we see as a realistic plan."

Because Layzell has been involved with the IBHE for only two years, he was unable to comment on the historical funding of public universities.

Considering current state finances, board member Frances Carroll said she was pleased with the budget.

"We did the best we could," Carroll said.

The IBHE’s decision is only a recommendation.

"This is just one step in the process," Layzell said. "The next step will be the governor’s budget, which will be released on Feb. 18, and then the General Assembly will deliberate on that."

The fiscal year for Illinois state government, which includes NIU, begins July 1.

Editor’s Note: This is part of an ongoing series in which the Northern Star will be taking an in-depth look at NIU’s budget.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education is recommending in its budget proposal $17.6 million for NIU to renovate the Stevens Building and $2.3 million for other capital renewal projects for fiscal year 2005.

Similar recommendations were made by the IBHE last year to fund the Stevens Building project, but NIU received no money for it.

The IBHE is meeting today to discuss and approve the $2.34 billion higher education budget. Of that, $341.6 million is recommended to fund capital projects.

Bob Albanese, director of Finance and Facilities, said the Stevens Building has been on NIU’s priority list for at least three or four years. He said every institution comes up with a list of projects that need to be completed. The lists are submitted to the IBHE, which makes a priority list for the state of Illinois and recommends the amount of funding each university should get.

“We hopefully will get it funded in 2005,” Albanese said.

If the Stevens Building isn’t funded this year, it most likely will stay on the list for next year, but Albanese said that sometimes projects within the university are shuffled around, and the most important project one year might not be the most important for the next.

The first phase of renovation for the Stevens Building, which is in the planning stage, is No. 12 on the IBHE’s FY05 priority list for capital improvements. The actual remodeling of the building is at No. 21. Last year, planning and remodeling for the Stevens Building were at No. 15 and 25, respectively.

NIU requested $105.4 million for FY05 to fund all the capital projects on its priority list, which included other academic building renovations and campus road repairs.

Despite NIU’s request, the IBHE is recommending $17.6 million, which is NIU’s estimated cost for the Stevens Building project.

Kevin O’Kelly, the IBHE student board member, said capital project requests always are larger than what actually is recommended, and that is why each school has priority lists to submit to the IBHE.

NIU also requested $2.9 million for capital renewal projects, which Albanese said includes things like elevator rehabilitations and possibly will include money for emergency maintenance projects. The IBHE has recommended to give NIU $2.3 million.

Albanese said he wasn’t sure how the IBHE determines what projects get funded, but few received money last year.

In October, however, the IBHE approved to reconvene the committee on capital policies and priorities, which is a committee that will work to establish clear regulations to determine what projects take priority over others.

O’Kelly, who is a member of the committee, said the regulations will be finalized over the next two months and will set the tone for future recommendations.

Some of the projects that will be given high priority are projects that address necessary life, health and safety improvements; projects that protect the state’s investments in existing facilities; and completing ongoing projects.

Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series in which the Northern Star will be taking an in-depth look at NIU’s budget.