The Board of Trustees at the University of Illinois system have approved the 2014 budget. The $5.6 billion budget is a 1.2 percent increase from the 2013 fiscal year, and is the smallest increase in more than two decades.

The state appropriation for the University of Illinois in fiscal year 2014 is $669 million, which is an increase of $1.2 million from the previous year. The top state appropriation for the university system was $804 million back in 2002.

University of Illinois President Robert Easter says the schools within the system are "weathering our financial challenges."