Illinois' public universities have gone without state support during the nearly five months legislators and the governor have been caught in gridlock. That's creating a double fiscal whammy.
Illinois' state universities have had to front the money for low-income students' tuition MAP grants that the state is supposed to cover.
Chancellors say they've put off campus upgrades; presidents say faculty recruitment’s suffering, all while they wait for Illinois lawmakers to pass a budget, that provides them with state funding. And now another hit.
Moody's has lowered the credit ratings for six schools, including Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western. Analysts write that Western’s "thin" base of liquid reserves means the budget delay has a sharper negative impact on it than some of its peers." Moody's also says EIU has a "very high vulnerability."
The University of Illinois and Illinois State University avoided any downgrades, but like the others, analysts gave them "negative" outlooks. That's a sign ratings could fall in the future.
