A University of Illinois administrator told the board of trustees that the school could lose about $70 million in state funding if the state income-tax increase passed in 2011 isn't extended.

Chief Financial Officer Walter Knorr told trustees at their meeting Thursday in Chicago that the end of the tax increase could cut state funding for the university by about 10.6 percent.

Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner campaigned on a pledge to phase out the tax increase. He defeated Gov. Pat Quinn earlier this month.

Reports indicate, Quinn was at Tuesday's meeting. Outside, he says without the increase the state's budget would be in "dire straits."

The university this year is getting about $667 million in state funding. That's about 15 percent of its $4.5 billion operating budget.