URBANA – Gov. Pat Quinn's budget would ease pressure for tuition increases at the University of Illinois and fund "long overdue" renovation projects on the UI's three campuses, top officials said.

The UI's top building priority – the renovation of Lincoln Hall – is among the $220 million in capital projects included in Quinn's budget plan, which must now go to the General Assembly.

The budget contained good news – or at least not more bad news – for the day-to-day operating budget, sending another $7.8 million in general revenue funds to the UI next year, officials said. At 1.1 percent, it's not a big increase, but it's also not a reduction, said spokesman Tom Hardy.

"There isn't a massive cut, and in this environment that's very significant," said Randall Kangas, assistant vice president for planning and budgeting. "It's a positive first step."

The UI's state funding has been relatively flat in recent years. For 2009, the university initially received $743.4 million in general revenue funds, up 2.76 percent, or about $20 million, from the previous year. But it had to return $18 million of that because of a statewide budget rescission.

The $18 million is back in the 2010 budget, Hardy noted. But he said the UI has no plans to lift a hiring freeze or other cost-cutting measures for the rest of fiscal 2009, which ends June 30.

"In terms of holding the line on spending and new hires, we're still living with that rescission," he said.

Quinn's budget assumes growth in tuition income, but UI officials said they've made no decisions about tuition for 2009-2010. Trustees plan to consider tuition rates at their May meeting in Chicago.

Tuition goes up each year for incoming students, but under the UI's guaranteed tuition plan, individual students lock in one rate for four years. The new-student rate has been going up about 9 percent a year, but given the recession, that number is likely to be smaller, Hardy said.

"I would expect if there is going to be an increase, it would be less than what we've seen in recent years," he said.

In applauding Quinn's budget, a joint statement from UI President B. Joseph White and board of trustees Chairman Niranjan Shah said it "will reduce pressure on how much to raise tuition for incoming students and will allow us to address deferred maintenance of our classrooms, research laboratories and other academic facilities."

Kangas said the UI could reap $15 million to $20 million to address a backlog of repairs and renovations, part of about $41 million allocated to higher education in general.

Besides the $57.3 million for the Lincoln Hall renovation, the UI would also get $60 million for the new petascale supercomputing center, money promised under Quinn's predecessor but never appropriated; about $20 million to build a post-harvest crop research facility; and $45 million in matching funds for a new electrical and computer engineering building.

Hardy and Kangas said they are still studying the governor's pension proposals, which would create a two-tiered system for current and future state workers and require current employees to increase their pension contributions by 2 percent.

"This is all brand-new stuff," Hardy said. "We're going to take a longer, closer look at it."

White and Shah said Quinn's "proposed reforms and 'belt-tightening' measures" reinforce that the UI must be a good steward of state resources. "We have in the past and will continue to routinely re-examine our spending priorities and take steps necessary to maximize the level of resources supporting our core missions of educating students and creating new knowledge."

On the Web

To see the UI's statement on the governor's budget, go to www.uillinois.edu.