The president of Southern Illinois University says the school cannot afford an increase in the minimum wage.
Governor Pat Quinn and other Democrats have made the issue is a priority this election year.
SIU president Glenn Poshard says student workers on the Carbondale campus already earn $8.50 an hour - a quarter more than the state's minimum wage.
"Increasing the minimum wage to $10 per hour, which would be an 18% increase, would result in additional total cost of approximately $2 million per fiscal year."
Poshard was in the Capitol Thursday testifying at a budget hearing. He says SIU has struggled to cope with cuts in state funding for higher education.
While the battle for a higher minimum wage brews in Springfield, Poshard warns of casualties in Carbondale and Edwardsville. Programs at those two campuses, he says, would be hurt in the long run.
"Maintaining the current level of student employment would likely require spending decreases in other areas."
State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago), who chairs the General Assembly's higher education committee, says Poshard's plea comes as a surprise, but he acknowledges the potential effect down the road for tuition dollars.
Dunkin says he has not yet taken a position on raising the state's minimum wage.
