Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1992 [PAGE 349]

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1993]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

337

Mrs. Gravenhorst moved that efforts be made to reschedule the board meeting for July 21-22, 1994. This motion was unanimously approved.

NEW BUSINESS

There was no business presented under this aegis.

REGULAR AGENDA

The board considered the following reports and recommendations from the president of the University.

Requests for Operating and Capital Appropriations, Fiscal Year 1995

(1) Requests for incremental operating funds and for new capital appropriations for the University of Illinois for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 1994, are presented herewith for action by the Board of Trustees. Following board action, these requests will be submitted to the Illinois Board of Higher Education for review. The accompanying tables summarize the major elements of each request, and the document, "Fiscal Year 1995 Budget Request for Operating and Capital Funds," contains detailed supporting information about each item and individual project in the requests. (Copies of the complete budget documents are filed with the secretary of the board for record.) The FY 1995 operating budget request, outlined in Table 1, is based upon background information provided earlier to the trustees. The request seeks $40.5 million in new operating funds for FY 1995, an increase of 5.7 percent above the current year's operating budget. The FY 1995 operating request is more modest than recent requests and is approximately one-third the size of the requests brought forward over the past decade. As has always been the case, the request attempts to balance the most urgent funding needs confronting the University while recognizing the overall fiscal condition of the State. The greatest priority for the University in FY 1995 will be salary increases for faculty and staff. To improve the timeliness and predictability of tuition decisions, the operating budget request sets tuition rates for FY 1995. Consistent with tuition principles discussed by the board in July, a general tuition increase of 5.5 percent is recommended for all students. To help simplify the tuition rate structure, a two-year phase-out of the current differential between lower and upper division rates is recommended, with all revenue directed to undergraduate academic program improvements, particularly for first-year students. The final phase of tuition programs approved last year for certain science and fine arts programs is included, along with adjustments in professional school programs in law, medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine, to provide revenue for academic program improvements. All proposed tuition actions are outlined in Table 2. Table 3 identifies the fourteen projects in the FY 1995 capital budget request in priority order. Together, these projects represent an investment of $117 million, devoted primarily to preserving and extending the facilities already in place at the campuses. Remodeling and renovation projects comprise a large part of the total funds requested, with the highest priority given to the development of the south campus at the Chicago campus. The University's operating and capital requests for FY 1995 have been prepared by the vice president for academic affairs based upon advice and recommendations from the University Planning Council and reviewed by the University Policy Council. The vice president for academic affairs recommends approval. I concur.