Eastern’s Board of Trustees is expected to approve a balanced budget during its 1 p.m. meeting Friday.

Paul McCann, the interim vice president of business affairs, said he is bringing forward a balanced budget and the university is in a much better position now to accommodate for the increase in state taxes and the state minimum wage.

For the fiscal year 2020, Eastern received a $41,424.3 appropriation from the state.

According to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, overall higher education received $4.235 billion in total funding for FY20, including $2.4 billion in institutional operations and grant funding.

In addition to the appropriation, there was a $50 million increase in funding to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for the Monetary Award Program and a $10 million increase in the AIM High Program for its second year, according to the IBHE.

“Universities were allocated $1.167 billion in all funds for FY20,” according to the IBHE. “This is an increase of $53.8 million and represents a 4.8 percent increase over the FY19 funding level.”

Eastern alone has seen a 5 percent increase compared to last year’s $39.5 million appropriations, but state funding is still down compared to 2017 numbers.

In FY17 Eastern received a $48.6 million appropriation.

This year, the idea for Eastern’s budget is to break even, by sending the same amount that they spent last year and hoping that this year’s expenses meet the revenue provided.

Furthermore, the goal is to try and not make any cuts.

As of right now, McCann said that is still too soon to tell how much the university will receive from student tuition and fees but McCann said the numbers are continuing to improve.

Though he said it will be a while before the number of incoming students matches the number of outgoing students, McCann said the university is getting closer every day.

The Board of Trustees meeting is set to start at 11:30 a.m. but will enter an executive session if voted on by the board.

If voted on, the session will be closed to the public because the board will discuss a personnel contract, potentially extending a multi-year contract for Matt Bollant, the women’s basketball coach.

The open meeting will resume at 1 p.m. in the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

During the open session, the board will take a vote on the athletics budget, the personnel contract for Bollant, the approval of non-indentured reserves and the approval of newly elected officials.

For more information on the agenda and reports go here.

Analicia Haynes can be reached at 581-2812 or achaynes@eiu.edu.