NIU Today

After 10 months without a budget, legislators in Springfield today approved a stopgap funding measure for higher education that Gov. Bruce Rauner is expected to sign. Under terms of the legislation: Most universities in the state, including NIU, will receive approximately 30 percent of last year’s appropriation. For NIU, that amounts to $26.4 million. MAP...

NIU’s Division of Administration and Finance has begun planning for Fiscal Year 2016 financial close, scheduled for July 15. The cooperation of all departments is needed to keep to this schedule. Key dates to report year-end data and information: Notification of all purchase order rollovers and accruals to Procurement Services: April 1 All FY2016 approved...

Two pieces of information released this week – a letter to the state Higher Learning Commission and a bond rating update from Moody’s – offer a glimpse into the relative financial strength of Northern Illinois University as it continues to cope with the ongoing budget stalemate in Springfield. In the letter to the HLC, NIU...

NIU’s Division of Administration and Finance has begun planning for Fiscal Year 2016 financial close, scheduled for July 15. The cooperation of all departments is needed to keep to this schedule. Key dates to report year-end data and information: Notification of all purchase order rollovers and accruals to Procurement Services: April 1 All FY2016 approved...

Leaders from education, social services, business and others will join together Thursday to call upon state legislators to resolve the ongoing budget stalemate. The event, a Unity Rally for a State Budget, will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, 231 N. Annie Glidden Road in DeKalb....

NIU President Doug Baker emailed the campus today on the budget impasse in Springfield. Dear NIU faculty and staff, I’m sure you have seen the media coverage of a judge’s ruling against Illinois Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger’s plan to continue to pay state employees while the governor and the legislature attempt to break the budget...

Citing a trend of declining enrollment and diminishing state support, Northern Illinois University President Douglas Baker outlined key initiatives of the administration meant to give the university greater control over its own future at two university-wide town hall meetings Thursday afternoon. Baker pointed to collaboration between Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, Marketing & Communications and an...

The Illinois Senate approved a $35.7 billion fiscal year 2015 state budget late Friday evening, sending the governor a spending plan that neither enacted spending cuts nor included an extension of a 2011 temporary tax increase. The higher education piece of the overall state budget, or HB 6094 (HA 1), was passed by both chambers...

Michael Mann, former associate director of fiscal affairs and budgeting at the Illinois Board of Higher Education, has been appointed NIU’s assistant vice president of Budgeting and Finance. He begins his duties Wednesday, May 1. “Mike is a well-known and well-respected administrator in state higher education circles. He will be able jump right in here at...

In Washington, D.C. … Congress has now adjourned for a two-week spring recess. Last week, both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate were able to approve a short-term continuing resolution (H.R. 933) that will allow the federal government to remain operational through the end of the federal fiscal year (Sept. 30, 2013). The current...

Education will sustain a painful hit in a new State of Illinois spending plan unveiled today during Gov. Pat Quinn’s annual budget address. Calling it the “most difficult budget ever,” the governor said the state must solve its public-employee pension crisis, which will drain nearly $7 billion of the Illinois general revenue in the coming...

In an effort to keep you informed about what occurred during the spring legislative session in Springfield, we thought that it would be helpful to focus on some key areas and give you more context in terms of what happened. Our first area of focus is the Fiscal Year 2013 budget. The Illinois General Assembly...