The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) discussed the findings of the annual faculty salary study at its board meeting Tuesday, which placed the all-rank average faculty salaries at the University of Illinois' Urbana campus slightly below the median salary of the University's peer group.

The University's IBHE peer group includes private institutions such as University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern and Yale, and public universities including the University of Wisconsin, University of North Carolina and University of Michigan. The University faculty salaries were at 89.9 percent of the group median.

Randy Kangas, vice president of planning and budgeting for all three University of Illinois campuses, said part of the reason the University is falling behind in the group is because it is competing with private institutions.

"Since 1990, our composite annual state funding increased only 1.7 percent ... inflation has been going up at a faster rate," Kangas said. "Public institutions have not been funded at the level they used to be funded. It's been an uphill battle."

He said the University is "not bad in comparison to other public universities."

In fiscal year 2003, the University wasn't able to include a salary increase in its budget, while every other university in the Big Ten provided some salary program. Kangas said that caused the University to fall further behind.

But this is nothing new, according to Don Sevener, spokesman for the IBHE. He said that the state of Illinois has historically ranked behind its counterparts in public university salary comparisons.

According to Associate Provost Bill Adams, the University has been at the bottom of the peer group for nearly a decade. He said that while the University made some gains during that period, it was unable to continue making progress when the budget cuts hit.

"Our goal has been to get up to the mean," Adams said.

In fiscal year 2003, Illinois ranked 20th out of 21 universities according to the IBHE.

Peer groups are based on characteristics including enrollment levels, type and number of degrees and funding levels, among other factors.

In 2000, the state began a program aimed to increase the standings of Illinois universities with faculty salaries in comparison to its peers. However, the initiative could no longer be funded in 2002 because of the state's budget problems.

This year, the University requested a 4 percent average increase for all employees and a 2 percent increase for recruitment and retention of critical faculty and staff.

Adams said even with the 4 percent increase, it's unlikely that the University will gain any ground on its peers because the other universities will include salary programs as well.

The study emphasized that faculty salaries can vary based on the variety of "missions, programs and geographic locations."