Leatherneck Nation

Signs of the time:

#1. For the second straight year, the state of Illinois is leaving tens of thousands of low-income college students in the lurch about whether it will provide them with financial aid.

The stopgap budget deal reached on June 30 by Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly included money to reimburse colleges and universities for last school year’s Monetary Award Program (MAP grants).

But there was no funding in the budget for the coming 2016-2017 school year, leaving both the schools and the students facing the same uncertainty as before.

Drawing on last year’s experience, many schools are already stepping up to re-assure their students that they will cover the amount the state grant was supposed to provide toward their tuition. To do otherwise is to invite a further deterioration of their enrollment.

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission, which administers the MAP grants, made awards to only 101,000 students last year, down from 128,000 the previous year, because of less state funding.

Among the universities that have already said they will cover MAP grants for their students for the upcoming school year and hope to recover the money from the state later are Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, DePaul, and Northwestern.

Western has decided to cover MAP grants for the fall semester, but has not made a decision about the spring semester.


#2. Northeastern Illinois University President Sharon Hahs plans to retire on September 30. She has been at NEIU for about 10 years. The real surprise here is that she is recommending to the Board of Trustees that a national search for president be postponed until Illinois has at least one full regular budget cycle. She believes that a national search is not viable at this time. Instead, she is suggesting that the current Provost Richard Helldobler serve as Interim President.

With the current set-up going on in Illinois right now, current high school students are looking at other educational options. It would be difficult for someone to make a 4-year commitment to a university that only has funding until December 31.

Illinois budget uncertainty could affect tuition grants.

From the Associated Press:

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission is warning that continued uncertainty over state funding for tuition-assistance grants could jeopardize the academic success of thousands of low-income college students.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law last week a stopgap budget to keep state government operating for six months. The Quad-City Times reported that the budget provides $151 million to cover grants made to students this spring through the Monetary Award Program but doesn't provide funding for grants for the upcoming school year.

A survey from the commission, which oversees the program, says more than 18,000 students could delay or not complete their degrees. The commission says the survey of more than 10,000 grant recipients was conducted before the recent budget was approved and that some students might have responded differently in light of the grants' being fully funded for the 2015-16 school year.

The commission also said a decision on future funding likely will not be made until long after students have to make their enrollment decisions.

"Any appropriation would not come until sometime after the General Assembly reconvenes, which isn't scheduled to occur until mid-November - leaving students and schools with ongoing uncertainty about when and how much funding will be available," the commission said.

Illinois State University chief of staff Jay Groves said the school plans to cover MAP grants for its students for the full year, "unless something drastic happens."

Illinois Wesleyan University has a plan is in place in case there is no funding this coming school year, according to school spokeswoman Ann Aubry. The university said it credited unfunded grants to student accounts for tuition, room and board last year school, and there was a mix of grants and loans ready to bridge any shortfall if funding obligations were not met.

The grants were awarded to 101,000 students statewide last year. The average awards for the 2014-15 school year was $2,782.

Unfortunately, this budget impasse has created an environment which favors the universities with big endowment funds. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. What else is new? Bernie Sanders has the right idea - free tuition at all PUBLIC colleges and universities.

Stop-Gap Funding Measure Far From a Cure-All for WIU.

From Tri-States Public Radio WIUM-FM:
http://tspr.org/post/stop-gap-funding-m ... =#stream/0

Springfield's public radio station WUIS-FM had a story about the current risk of losing accreditation that is now facing our state universities.

Accreditation is necessary because if a school doesn’t have it, students cannot get federal student loans and their credits won’t transfer to other accredited institutions.

Education Desk: IBHE Warns Illinois Schools Still Under Accreditation Scrutiny.
http://nprillinois.org/post/education-d ... n-scrutiny

No more layoffs planned at EIU after stop-gap budget.

From the Associated Press:

Eastern Illinois University's president says he doesn't anticipate any more layoffs after the recent passage of a stop-gap state budget.

The Charleston school will receive about $26 million in state money through the end of the year. It also will receive about $3.5 million in Monetary Award Program student grant money that it advanced to its students. The Mattoon Journal-Gazette reports that EIU President David Glassman says the school will have to spend cautiously though because the stop-gap budget is temporary.

More than 400 Eastern Illinois employees have lost jobs because the school had received limited state funding. Glassman says the university has been able to call a few individuals back to work.

Glassman says EIU will be able to operate past Dec. 31 thanks to tuition dollars and state funding.

Just FYI, I've heard that Western is going to start calling back some of the people who were laid off this last time around. A good number of them will likely be facilities management people (building service workers) and department secretaries. The staffing level we're at right now is not enough to keep the university running when all the students are around, so they want to have most of the people back that they're bringing back in place by the second week of August (the 8th).

The process for that, for anyone curious, is to start calling the highest-seniority people who were laid off to see if they want it and then working their way down the list. The people with the least seniority will likely not get called back any time soon. They also will have to deal with a "reverse bumping" process, where people essentially move back up the hierarchy. Another thing to take into account is that some people who have moved to new positions may like their new job better, so they'll get to stay.

It'll be an interesting process...but the good news is that right now, we've got funding that will get us through to next January, and at a level where we can bring back some portion of our laid off workforce.

Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger, who pays the state’s bills, told reporters last week that come late December the state will still be paying off invoices from June and it will have a total bill payment backlog of $10 billion.

The very same day, the respected and bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability projected the stopgap deal has an $8 billion deficit.

That paints a very dark image of Illinois' financial stability. The stopgap deal has the state spending most of its revenues in the first six months of Fiscal Year 2017. The "cupboard" will be rather bare by the time we get to January.

A budget is suppose to match expenditures with revenues. The stopgap deal does not do that.

The General Assembly will return in November after the election. That is usually just a two-week session to address any vetoes. Whether we will see a complete budget for FY17 at that time is unknown.

The major threat to the state universities is the loss of accreditation. One of the factors that the accreditation board looks at is the long-term financial stability of a college. They usually look five years into the future. Chicago State would probably be the first to face this possibility. If they were to fall, the next "dominoes" would be Eastern and Western.

Today's Chicago Tribune has an article about the stopgap:
Stopgap budget failing to erase damage of state impasse.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... story.html

You know, I am truly tired of this "thread!" It seems that there is always another "shoe to drop" even when our wonderful state government comes up with one "stop gap" financial plan after another. The legislature has caused this mess and the result is a "cloud" which continues to unfairly hang over WIU's head. Enough said! jc

It has gone on and on.However, I sometimes wonder if folks really understand the ramifications that can affect Western and it's growth and stability in the eyes of others. You are an " employee" of the school, so your concerns might be different than others who want to know what is happening- since Western is usually mentioned in articles associated with the budget mess. I would suggest not reading the posts if you don't like to hear about it. Enough Said!