SAVOY – A vote on the closure of the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation won't come for at least a month.

Meanwhile, the interim director of the institute said the campus has "rushed to judgment" and still hopes to broker a merger with another college to save the aviation program.

"So far that's not been successful. We still have some hopes that it might be," said Tom Emanuel, adding he was "very" disappointed but not surprised by Thursday's news. "We're not excluding any options at this point."

Top UI administrators – who announced last fall they planned to phase out academic programs at the institute – said Thursday they've concluded it isn't economically feasible to run a non-degree flight-training program, either.

The campus plans to close the institute at Willard Airport in Savoy, a part of the university since 1946, according to a letter from interim Vice President and Chancellor Robert Easter and Richard Wheeler, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs.

The move, estimated to save $500,000 to $750,000 a year, is subject to approval from the campus senate, UI Board of Trustees and Illinois State Board of Higher Education.

The institute wouldn't close its doors for three years, allowing current students to complete their studies in the spring of 2014, but it would not admit new freshmen next fall.

"We must carefully examine our core missions and determine how to support and enhance those missions, so that we may best serve our students, the state and society. We have arrived at the difficult decision that closing the institute best serves those interests," the letter from Easter and Wheeler said.

The UI senate's educational policy committee was asked to hold a hearing on the proposed closure, and that will likely be in early March, said Chairman Abbas Aminmansour.

The committee in November approved the earlier UI plan to discontinue the bachelor's and master's programs in human factors aviation – the institute's academic major – and the professional pilot curriculum. But the full senate wasn't scheduled to vote on it until Feb. 28.

Thursday's letter asked the senate to consider the new proposal along with that earlier measure, but Aminmansour said the public hearing must be held first. Faculty associated with the institute also will be allowed to vote on the closure under senate rules, although it will be an advisory vote, he said.

The institute technically has no faculty members, as the last five were assigned to other departments last summer, including psychology, engineering and library science, Emanuel said. They would continue to teach in those departments after the institute closed, officials said. The institute has nearly 70 other employees, including flight instructors, he said.

An April 29 report from a "Stewarding Excellence" budget review committee questioned the future of the institute, one of the smallest units on campus. It has 107 students majoring in aviation human factors, the study of how humans interact with technology; and 48 students in the two-year professional pilot program who have other academic majors. The committee said the campus subsidizes the programs by $875,000 a year.

Easter and Wheeler last fall asked a student consulting group in the College of Business to explore whether a non-degree pilot-training and flight-simulation program, open to both students and the public, could be self-supporting so it wouldn't require state funding. Based on estimated flight fees of $32,000, the consultants concluded demand wouldn't support the program.

Wheeler said the campus also contacted a private company that provides flight training around the country but "we never got a positive response from them."

"We are proud of the prestigious history of the (institute) and of the contributions its employees, students and alumni have made to the field of aviation and to our university," the letter said. "We will honor all of our obligations to our employees and are committed to providing them with support and assistance as we move through this transition."

Emanuel said the option considered by the consulting group didn't make sense because airlines want students who also have bachelor's degrees.

Students and staff have pledged to find a way to continue the aviation program, such as increasing student fees and/or increasing enrollment.

"We were hoping to be able to merge with one of the other colleges on campus and save some money in terms of administrative and operating costs," added Emanuel, who started as a flight instructor at the institute in 1969.

Supporters also argued that elimination of the pilot program could jeopardize over $1 million in research funding.

Emanuel said the institute isn't as costly to the campus as other units, with 65 percent of its costs covered by aviation students' tuition, compared to a range of 38 percent to 125 percent for other units.

"On a per-student basis it's a pretty expensive proposition for the university, as well as a pretty expensive proposition for the students involved," Wheeler responded, adding that enrollment has steadily declined in recent years. Base aviation tuition is $13,658 for Illinois residents, plus $31,060 in flight fees.

Wheeler said he'd be open to other arrangements if a college steps forward to take over the program, but so far that hasn't happened.

"The process is just starting. We will listen carefully to what we hear back from the public hearing, what the faculty senate says," Wheeler said.

Flight instructor Joseph McElwee, who graduated in December, said he's hopeful the campus might reconsider.

He argues that the projected savings are small compared to the number of jobs that will be lost and the impact on the community. He also said the Department of Transportation has projected a shortage of pilots in a few years.

Wheeler said students have other options for flight training, including private institutes. Emanuel said about 150 colleges and universities across the country offer flight training, though Southern Illinois University is the only other public school in the state.

The Association of Academic Professionals issued a statement Thursday calling the decision "regrettable" and urging the UI to work with unions to find another solution.