The Board of Trustees will be voting on a preliminary budget for FY’17 as well as a budget request for FY’18 Friday as nearly a full year has passed without a full appropriation from the state.

The new fiscal year begins on July 1. So far, the state has not appropriated any money for higher education.

The university is budgeting $57.4 million coming from tuition and fees, down 11 percent from FY’16’s $64.5 million, and $34 million from state appropriations, an increase of 172.9 percent from $12.5 million from the previous year, according to the board report.

$34 million is the amount proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, according to Paul McCann, interim vice president for business affairs.

The board will also be voting on increasing student fees as well as increasing fees for requesting transcripts.

The proposal for the union bond revenue fee, used to offset increases in utilities, equipment maintenance and salaries, is $25.81, up from $22.17.

The proposal for the health service fee raises the cap to 12 hours at $10.10 per hour, up from 9 hours at $10.10 per hour, which aligns the fee with all other capped fees at 12 hours. This would allow operating expense increases to be offset as well as offset significant revenue reductions.

The transcript fee proposal raises the regular and rush processing fee by $5 to $10 and $15, respectively. The immediate processing fee remains unchanged.

Eastern will be proposing two new programs – a master of science in talent development and a bachelor of science in computer and information technology. The degree in talent development would be an online degree program that would not utilize new resources from the state or school to implement. The degree in computer and information technology would also not use new state or university funds to begin.

The board will also be voting on a charter bus agreement for use by athletics and other departments as needed. The primary vendor is Bales Unlimited, Inc., which Eastern already does business with. Cavallo Bus Lines, Inc. and Peoria Charter Coach Company are the secondary and tertiary vendors. The estimated cost is $400,000 annually, dependent on the number of trips needed by Eastern.

The board is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Friday in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

More information can be found here.

Jason Howell can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected]