A number of university presidents testified for an Illinois Senate committee Thursday on what Illinois' budget impasse has done to their institutions.  They say nearly a year without state support has led to layoffs, students struggling to pay tuition without grants and high school students considering going elsewhere for a degree.

Presidents of Illinois' nine public universities say going four months without money is putting their institutions "at the brink of serious operational damage."  On Thursday, some of them pleaded their case in private meetings with Governor Bruce Rauner.