IBHE approves salary increases for SIUC

Tuesday the Illinois Board of Higher Education approved a 1.5 percent pay raise for the faculty of SIUC. But the University will have to cover almost half of the $2.9 million cost with tuition money.

SIUC will be footing $1.1 million of the bill. The increase will help fund a portion of the 3 percent increase the University has already promised to the faculty and staff, if the governor and the legislature approve of the board's recommendations.

The board also approved a $153.5 million budget for the University, a $1 million increase from last year. The budget will now go to the Legislature for approval and then to the governor's office.

This is the board's first increase in budget recommendations in two years. In 2004, the University faced a $6.7 million shortfall in its operating budget, which was preceded by layoffs and administrative cuts. Though this year's increase is a slim .81 percent, members of the administration are pleased with the prospect of more state funds.

John Haller, vice president for Academic Affairs, said this year's budget projection was dismal, but SIU supported the board's projected increases.

Last year, the board recommended that SIUC not receive any additional monetary aid from the state. The Governor attempted to decrease the budget, but the General Assembly stood by the board's recommendation.

This year's news of a small percentage increase comes as a relief to some administrators who had hoped they would receive more help from the state.

"The state's budgetary situation is quite disappointing," Haller said. "Revenues are not there and new state dollars are not too encouraging."

The approval of the pay raises and the .81 percent increase in funding is somewhat bittersweet, because the University will have its state matching grant program cut in half, Haller said.

The matching grant program is central to the University's "Southern at 150" plan, which relies heavily on research dollars that would have produced more state generated income.

"Southern at 150" is the University's plan to become a top 75 research institution by its 150th birthday in 2019.

SIUC generated about $53 million in research during the 2002 fiscal year. The matching grant program helped the University reach that amount.

Marvin Zeman, the president of the Faculty Association, said the raises will be accepted with open arms, but the 3 percent increases would not come close to covering basic living expenses. He also stressed that the raises still do not compare to other universities' faculty salaries.

"I'm not ready to dance in the streets," Zeman said. "But I certainly will not reject any additional increases we receive."

Zeman said the average faculty salary is $51,000. Faculty who were a part of the University for the past four years would have seen a combined 7.5 percent increase - or a total of $4,000.

The board approved more than $18 million in additional funding for the Monetary Award Program, a grant awarded by the state to financially strapped students. The grant program gives student aid based upon the number of course hours a student takes.

Chancellor Walter Wendler was pleased with the board's decision to give the faculty a pay raise, but said the University would be challenged in the coming year.

Wendler said the general consensus among presidents and chancellors at all the other state universities was that the Board was trying its hardest to dole out pay increases without overstretching the state's budget.

"I feel like the IBHE was under some difficult circumstances," Wendler said.

The board also awarded SIUC the distinction of being the only university in Illinois with a Ph.D program in applied physics. Haller said the program would boost SIUC's public image across the state.