Metro East Sun

With seven Illinois public universities suffering setbacks in the wake of Moody’s Investors Service state bond rating downgrade, Republican candidate Mike Babcock, running for House District 111, expressed deep disquiet over the implications.

“I am so very concerned about the situation that the state legislature has put our universities in,” Babcock said. “They have made a conscious decision to continue with the status quo when it comes to passing a budget that is responsible and one that would allow the universities to plan their budgets around the needed release of the revenue back to their schools.”

The University of Illinois plus six other state universities were recently placed on review for downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service following the state’s recent bond rating downgrade from Baa1 to Baa2. The reviews will examine the impact of Illinois’ budget impasse on each university and each school’s respective ability to adjust to delayed or reduced state funding.

“It is very hard for a university or any organization to approve a budget until they know how much money they will be getting from the state that has taken in nearly $32 billion of our hard-earned tax dollars,” Babcock said. “As these universities are being downgraded, debt-wise this just forces them to borrow at higher rates. This is not a good situation for them to be in.”

The affected universities include the University of Illinois, Illinois State University, Southern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Governors State University, Northeastern Illinois University and Eastern Illinois University.