The university will dip into its own pockets Wednesday if the state does not pass an operating budget by midnight, SIU spokesman Dave Gross said.

The SIU Board of Trustees approved a resolution this month that allows the university to spend at the same rate it did during the 2009 fiscal year if state appropriations are not coming in by July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

That money would be taken from the university’s locally allocated income fund, a cash flow made up mainly of tuition and fees, because state appropriations will be untouchable, Gross said.

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‘I can’t imagine a scenario where (SIU President Glenn Poshard) and the Board of Trustees would not put a plan together to keep the school and its payroll functioning,’ Gross said. ‘Fortunately, we have the ability to have these additional revenues that come from the students.’

The income fund changes from day to day, said Assistant Vice President for Finance and Academic Affairs Corey Bradford, because the university allows students to pay tuition and fees on an increment basis.

SIUC’s income fund for 2008 was $95,551,600.

About 40 percent of the university’s revenue comes from the income fund, meaning theoretically, the university could independently operate until Thanksgiving break.

‘We would probably have to utilize all the cash flows (if a budget isn’t passed),’ said Bradford. ‘If it ever gets to the point of a short term loan, we would really be in need of a cash flow.’

Ideally, Gross said, the income fund is saved for when state appropriations are stretched thin later in the fiscal year, and given the state’s current financial climate, those funds could be as important as ever.

‘There’s not much of a distinction between state appropriations and the income fund,’ Gross said. ‘But generally what happens is we draw down those (state funds) in a way that allows us to hold onto the income fund until it’s needed later in the fiscal year.’

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Illinois faces a $12 billion budget shortfall and unless a significant revenue stream is found, the 2010 fiscal budget will be enormously underfunded.

Gov. Pat Quinn remains adamant his proposed income tax increase is the only way a balanced budget can be achieved, but lawmakers on both sides of the spectrum have been reluctant to find middle ground.

The Illinois Legislature will be in session nearly all day today, Gross said. But the outcome looks bleak.

‘What happens at this point is anyone’s guess,’ he said. ‘There was very little movement Friday. No one knows where the plan is going.’

The July 1 deadline poses as a monumental date in what could happen to higher education.

A report by the Chronicle of Higher Education stated colleges’ balance sheets on June 30 – the last day of FY 2009 – will offer the first concrete assessment of how the economic crisis has affected higher education and how it could affect higher education in the future.

‘It will be a benchmark,’ said June M. Matte, a managing director for the higher-education practice at the Boston office of the PFM Group, a financial-advisory company, in the report. ‘How people manage from that point, that’s going to be the real issue.’