Peters says the situation is nothing new, but he's optimistic the payments will come. The state still owes the university nearly $26-million dollars from the last fiscal year.
"This is the third year where we have had lagged appropriations. So what you have to do is use your own resources to cover payroll, which has an effect on us because basically we hold back on spending on things like equipment and we have to meet payroll" Peters said.
The state filed an extension to make good on that promise by the end of December. State funding has fallen for NIU in the past several years from 118-million appropriated in 1999 to around 93-million in the current year.
Peters says to fill the gap, the university has, in some cases, re-allocated positions instead of filling them. He says NIU, like the state other public universities, also has had to increase tuition and fees.