SIU struggles as state financial woes continue - CALEB HALE, The Southern

SIU President Glenn Poshard would like to say the university’s worst days are be-hind it, but an ever-increasing storm of budget cuts and rising costs on the horizon makes it unlikely. “We look at the total financial picture coming down the road, and there is really nothing positive about it,” Poshard said. The outlook for public higher education in America continues to sour, and SIU is no exception. SIU Carbondale, often considered a major employer and economic engine for Southern Illinois, is down roughly 500 positions, most of them jobs campus executives simply haven’t filled after people retired. The university system is owed more than $100 million in state operating funds, a backlog that goes back two fiscal years. Its operating budget for this year is $203 million, a total that just a few years ago was closer to a quarter-million dollars. http://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu-struggles-as-state-financial-woes-continue/article_22e65b14-20ba-11e2-8cb3-001a4bcf887a.html