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MACOMB, ILL. -- The state of Illinois owes Western Illinois University $19.9 million.

Wednesday, June10th Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation that would allow the university to borrow money from the state on the anticipation of those funds.

WIU Provost and Academic Vice President Jack Thomas says the university's board of trustees did approve a resolution that would allow it to borrow money if need be.

But he says that will be a last resort.

"If we don't get the cash and if it's not given to us in a timely manner than we will have to borrow. And then if we borrow, just think about where we would be in the future with a bill and paying back when we don't get what we need from the state right now," says Thomas.

Thomas says the university will continue what it has been doing, monitoring and being very conservative with spending.

We asked him if that or borrowing money from the state would jeopardize the education of WIU students.

"One thing we will not do here at Western, we want to make sure that we maintain quality, we would not subject our students and faculty to diminishing quality. We want our students to continue to get a quality and well rounded education. That's the reason we're here at the institution," said Thomas.

We also talked to John Wood Community College to see if it would be borrowing money from the state.

President Tom Klincar said "John Wood Community College has no plan to mortgage our future by borrowing for immediate needs. We have increased revenue through tuition and continue to aggressively reduce costs. The penalty to cost reduction is some reduction in services. Borrowing short term now in hope that the state will deliver owed funds isn't responsible."