Though U. Illinois has implemented furloughs and offered faculty buy-outs to lessen the institution’s $241 million debt, its greatest cost-cutting measure may come from its Stewarding Excellence initiative, which will review all aspects of the institution on their efficiency.

Stewarding Excellence was created last January to evaluate campus programs on how adequately they used their resources and if their tasks could be consolidated. Of the 17 project teams, 15 have submitted their reports as of press deadline.

But, the process is long from over. Once a report is posted on the Stewarding Excellence website, OcIllinois.edu/budget, it is open to public comment for up to two weeks. Then, the next four weeks are used by the University to collect comments, submit them to the project team and the academic units involved and write an amended report.

“We’re in the process of implementing many recommendations that resulted from the Stewarding Excellence effort, and we anticipate launching a small number of reviews in additional areas this fall,” University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said.

Kaler said Stewarding Excellence will aid in positively transforming the University, especially when state appropriations for the instituition decrease.

A possible transformation suggested includes increasing the amount of accepted out-of-state students, according to the Revenue Generation Project report. In addition to providing a more diverse environment, the report said that by increasing the number of out-of-state students from its current 15 to 25 percent, about $65 million can be generated annually. That number was based on FY 10 tuition levels.

The transition to a larger out-of-state student population, however, would take multiple years to “avoid creating undue stress in the undergraduate population,” the report said.

When the team compared the number of out-of-state students to other institutions, the University ranked in the bottom half. The average percent of in-state students in the undergraduate population was 85 percent for fall 2009.

“While the University will always predominantly serve the undergraduate needs of the Illinois citizenry, increased out-of-state enrollment may be a prudent, defensible response if the University is to maintain its preeminent status,” according to a recommendation stated in the team’s report.

Revenue Generation Project Team Chair Mary Kalantzis could not be reached for comment.