Illinois is months behind in paying its bills to vendors and agencies all over the state, and Southern Illinois University is no different.
SIU President Glenn Poshard says as of Monday, the state owes the university more than $130 million. At seven months into the fiscal year, only 7% of monies owed to SIU have been delivered. Poshard says despite the continued tough conditions, he's pleased with the leadership of the financial managers both at the system and campus level. He says they've kept the ball rolling, even though there's very little money available to do it: "We've had a strong crew of people who have made sure that we've engaged in the most conservative practices possible, because the last thing we want to see is our university go into some sort of financial default or whatever. And we're not going to let that happen."
Poshard says the downgrade of Illinois' credit rating last week will also hurt the university's ability to get good interest rates on building projects and other bonding initiatives. He says that means projects that may have been planned for the coming years may have to be put off, or scaled back to save money.