State of Illinois Budget Update
April 12, 2022 3:46 PM

Dear faculty, staff, students and friends:

The new state budget passed by the Illinois General Assembly and expected to be signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker will provide $655.2 million in general operating funds to the University of Illinois System for the coming fiscal year, as well as a $122 million increase for the Monetary Award Program (MAP), the state’s primary student financial aid program.

The state budget for the 2023 fiscal year, which begins July 1, will increase the U of I System appropriation by 5 percent over the current year. The budget passed also applies an additional $28.1 million supplemental appropriation to the current fiscal year’s $622 million in state operating funds, essentially providing the fiscal year 2023 increase a year early.

This marks the third consecutive year that legislators and the governor have maintained or increased U of I System funding. These increases signal continued recognition of the value the U of I System provides not only to our more than 94,000 students, but also to the state as a whole, and we are grateful to our legislators and governor for their investment in higher education.

Highlights of the budget include:

• A $122 million increase for the state’s Monetary Award Program (MAP), which provides financial aid to Illinois students, including more than 22,000 across our U of I System universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield.
• $1.36 billion in total capital re-appropriations across the system, of which $496.7 million will support continued planning and construction of the U of I System's Discovery Partners Institute and the statewide Illinois Innovation Network. Additionally, $862.5 million of re-appropriated capital funds will support a number of ongoing construction projects across our three universities. 
• $3 million in new funding for the Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois Springfield, part of a national program that works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people and reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
• $2 million in new funding for the creation of a Climate Jobs Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to provide data, research and information that will help the state and its workforce transition to a clean-energy economy.

In addition to the budget, the legislature also approved regulatory measures that streamline and improve procurement, allowing the university system to more effectively engage minority vendors and conduct business in the state. The measures also establish a taskforce to report on further procurement reforms needed to legislate in the fall veto session.

We thank our U of I Caucus for its hard work and dedication during this budget process, and we appreciate the support of all of you in making the U of I System a powerful engine of progress for the state.

We are grateful to Gov. Pritzker and the legislature for their ongoing partnership, reflected in this budget which makes vital investments in higher education. We look forward to further collaboration as we work to ensure our universities have the financial backing to continue to deliver for the people of Illinois.

Sincerely,

Tim Killeen
President, University of Illinois System

Robert Jones
Chancellor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Michael Amiridis
Chancellor, University of Illinois Chicago

Karen Whitney 
Interim Chancellor, University of Illinois Springfield