Some people believe that tax dollars provide total support for state universities.
This is not the case for most state institutions and certainly not true for Northern Illinois University. In fact, the state's contribution to Northern's budget has declined steadily over the past decade. In 1999, for example, only 39 percent of Northern's total annual budget was provided by state tax dollars. This is why Northern and other state universities across the country view building their endowments as critical to sustaining the vitality of their academic programs. The foundation's over-riding goal is to help reduce the widening gap between state support and the increasing needs of faculty and students.