The state's Board of Higher Education is dropping a Thanksgiving bonus on three of the state's most financially-strapped public universities.
The board voted Wednesday to send 17-million-dollars in emergency funds to Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Chicago State Universities to help them stay in operation through the end of the year.
The money can only be used to pay down existing bills or those incurred by the end of the year. The money comes from the stopgap budget passed by lawmakers this summer that expires at the end of the year.