Monday February 22, 2016
NorthernStar
.info
Volume 116 Issue 41
Trustees vote to expand nursing
State approval might NIU Nursing facts make separate school Alexander Chettiath News Editor
The Associated Press
Gov. Bruce Rauner speaks to lawmakers as he leaves the House chambers after delivering the State of the Budget Address to a joint session of the General Assembly on Wednesday at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. Rauner vetoed Senate Bill 2043 on Friday, which would have appropriated $397 million for MAP funding.
Bill would appropriate $72M in funds to NIU Legislation funding House Bill 4539 could go to MAP If passed, the bill would... Alexander Chettiath News Editor
• Provide $373 million in funding to higher education • Appropriate $72,874,200 in funding to NIU DeKalb | Despite Gov. Bruce • Be used in conjunction with HB4521 which would provide authority Rauner vetoing a bill to fund Monfor the governor to establish emergency reserves of previously approetary Award Program grants, a priated funds, transfer balances between special funds second bill, House Bill 4539, that would provide $373 million in MAP funding, is still active. MAP gives funding to Illinois residents who attend approved Illinois colleges and demonstrate financial need. The number of grants made through this program, are subject to sufficient annual appropriations by the General Assembly and the governor, according to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission website. HB4539 would fund MAP grants and appropriate $72,874,200 to NIU. The bill must be used in conjunction with HB4521 which would provide authority and procedures for the governor to establish emergency reserves of previously appropriated funds and to transfer balances between special funds in the state treasury and the general revenue fund due to the budget impasse. Rauner’s Fiscal Year 2016 proposed budget includes reduction in funds to public entities, including NIU’s $93 million in allocations for FY 2016 being cut to about $64 million. A lack of agreement on the proposed budget has resulted in a eight-month impasse. Without a finalized budget,
state appropriations, such as MAP funding, cannot be given. Approximately 5,700 NIU students relied on the MAP grants in question to fund their education for the 2015-16 academic year. NIU credited the MAP grants to students for fall 2015 and spring 2016 amounting to $20 million.
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I know [Gov. Bruce Rauner is] not talking to Congress. I know he’s not working with anybody and I don’t see why not.” Robert Frizzell Junior biology major
Alan Phillips, vice president for Administration and Finance, said if the state does not end up appropriating funds or MAP, NIU is not in a position to cover those funds and will work with students to find whatever financial aid that they can. “I know [Rauner is] not talking to Congress. I know he’s not working with anybody and I don’t
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see why not,” said junior biology major Robert Frizzell. Frizzell said he expects to have to take out a loan to cover the costs. “Even though that bill got vetoed we haven’t given up that a bill will get through to fund the MAP grants,” said NIU Spokesperson Joe King. “Historically it has been a program that the state has been very committed to. We’re confident that, even in the midst of the current crisis, ... they will ultimately fund that.” Rauner vetoed Senate Bill 2043 on Friday, which would have appropriated $397 million for MAP funding, and said it would explode the state’s budget deficit, exacerbate the state’s cash flow crisis and place further strain on social service providers. “... State spending already approved far exceeds available state revenue this year,” Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley) said in a Friday news release. “Dolling out money without a funding source only adds on to our state’s growing pile of unpaid bills and delays a real discussion of funding such expenditures.”
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DeKalb | NIU has approved the creation of a separate academic school of nursing planned to be set up for fall 2016. Currently, NIU has a School of Nursing and Health Studies, in the College of Health and Human Sciences, which combines nursing, public health and Derryl Block health educa- Dean of the tion programs College of Health into one and Human Sciences school. NIU offers a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The school was approved at the Board of Trustees special meeting Thursday. The approval was only for the academic department and not for any new buildings. The potential school of nursing now has to be approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. “The administrative placement of nursing as its own school is a very common structure in many universities,” said Derryl Block, dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, at the meeting Thursday. “Our numbers... in this stringently accredited program really point towards having its own school.”
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[This is] part of a larger view of reorganization of the college that will give attention to the many, many pre-majors. This is the first step.” Derryl Block Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences
Schools such as Western Illinois University and Southern Illinois University have designated schools of nursing while schools such as University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Illinois at Chicago have separate colleges. NIU’s current nursing program’s annual cost for instructional salaries is approximately $2.75 million and another $305,000 in supportive personnel and student employees. The potential school of nursing will require a chair and two office
• The program is a part of the School of Nursing and Health Studies • NIU offers a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing • The move to make the program its own school was approved at the Board of Trustees special meeting Thursday • The program’s current annual cost for instructional salaries is approximately $2.75 million • The program currently receives around $40,000 per year in private donations through the NIU Foundation support positions, with an estimated cost of $177,000, according to Thursday’s Board of Trustees Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee report. The nursing program currently receives around $40,000 per year in private donations through the NIU Foundation. Among public institutions, NIU is consistently in the top two for nursing student enrollment and in the top five among all 37 nursing programs, public and private, in the state, according to the report. During the past six years, NIU enrolled approximately 20 percent of the nursing students enrolled in all Illinois public universities, with an average annual enrollment of 653 undergraduate students. The demand for the program is high with 3 to 4 qualified applicants for every seat, Block said. “In the course of discussions, this component of the reorganization... not only would it be helpful with service to students but also that it would be helpful in terms of faculty recruitment and advertisement and marketing to nursing professionals in various stages of their careers,” said Provost Lisa Freeman. Job outlook for registered nurses is expected to grow 16 percent from 2014 to 2024, which is much faster than average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Block said NIU will be developing a new Doctor of Nursing practice program. “[This is] part of a larger view of reorganization of the college that will give attention to the many, many pre-majors,” Block said. “This is the first step.”
Screening to show eating disorder film A screening of the documentary “Thin” will be shown at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Reavis Hall, Room 103. The documentary chronicles the lives of four women with anorexia nervosa. Read more on Page 6.