No budget crisis: university gets usual amount of money from state, so far

The budget show-down in Springfield has made no difference whatsoever to the university’s financial situation so far. The Campus Faculty Association has discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request that:

1. The amount owed to the university on previous years’ state appropriations is only $49 million, as of August 14. The university can easily cover this amount temporarily. Indeed, the university has socked away more than 30 times as much in investments over just the past five years, and the university generates more than 20 times as much each year in tuition revenue. There is no chance of the university having cash flow problems or failing to meet payroll anytime soon.
2. It is true the state has not begun appropriation payments to the university for the current fiscal year, which started on July 1, but that is normal: almost no funds were received from the state through August in each of the years 2012, 2013, and 2014 (less than $200,000 in each case).

Bottom line: despite all the talk in Springfield, nothing is different this year so far, in terms of state dollars received.

Here is the spreadsheet showing the numbers: FOIA GeneralFunds