A $454 million bill to increase funding for financially struggling Illinois colleges and universities has cleared the state Senate. Lawmakers approved the bill on a near unanimous vote and sent the measure to the House on Thursday.

An SIU spokesperson expressed surprise at the use of the term "militarized", but said its #23 ranking shows that the university offers "relevant degrees" for people in the military community. The University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus ranked #83 in the same report.

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.

The heads of EIU, SIU, and WIU warned a House panel of what Gov. Rauner's suggested 31-percent cut in state support would mean to their schools.