Eastern will have to come up with another $200,000 to give back to the state.

In February, Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked public universities to plan for 8 percent of this year’s fiscal budget to be put in reserve.

Now Eastern will have to give back 2.9 percent, or $1.5 million. The university had 2 percent already in reserve, equal to $1.3 million.

The other eight public state universities are being asked for the same percentage except for the University of Illinois, which was asked for 4.1 percent..

“We do believe we will be able to come up with this,” said Eastern’s interim President Lou Hencken. “Us university presidents made a lot of trips to Springfield to talk to a lot of people.”

The money will come from three areas: air conditioning costs, some summer school cuts and auxiliary insurance costs.

Several summer school classes with low enrollment could be dropped from the curriculum.

Which ones will be let go is uncertain, but classes seniors need for graduation will probably not be cut, Hencken said.

“Anytime there’s going to be a cut, it can’t be business as usual,” Hencken said. “We’ve got to take a long hard look at some of the smaller classes.”

Air conditioning will be reduced in certain buildings on Friday afternoons and weekends over the summer.

The plan will raise temperatures about 10 degrees and drop costs $50,000 this fiscal year.

The cut won’t apply to all buildings such as Booth Library or the physical science building.

Only a few classes are scheduled Friday afternoons, Hencken said.

The governor’s budget address Tuesday suggested plans for a $5 billion deficit, with a $112 million recommended cut in higher education for Fiscal Year 2004.

Blagojevich blamed the deficit on structural changes, like in Medicaid, the economy’s tax structure and a failure of the state to react in the progressing economic downturn.

Next year, Eastern could face 8 percent in cuts or more than $4.1 million, Hencken said.