SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Blagojevich administration is asking Illinois’ universities to place 2.5 percent of their budgets in reserves. The cuts mean four-year universities would lose nearly $35 million from their budgets. The state’s community colleges would drop nearly $8 million.

University of Illinois spokesman Tom Hardy says the school’s president, Joe White, told the campuses to prepare for cuts earlier this fall. Campus officials were to present contingency plans to White by next month. The Chicago campus already announced it was cutting 200 jobs at its medical center.

Katie Ridgway is a spokeswoman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich. She says the nation’s economic decline has led to a $2 billion state budget deficit, requiring “difficult decisions.”