CHARLESTON, Ill. (AP) — Eastern Illinois University has accepted a faculty union plan to defer more than $2 million in salaries so the university can make payroll until the end of the fiscal year.

EIU-UPI is the school’s faculty union. It voted Monday and Tuesday to accept union leadership’s proposal for the salary deferral plan. EIU President David Glassman accepted it. Union president Jonathan Blitz called the plan a “magnanimous gesture” that demonstrates the union’s commitment to the school and its students.

The Mattoon Journal-Gazette and (Charleston) Times-Courier report that the union previously rejected an EIU administration plan that included salary reductions.

Eastern has had cash flow problems because of a lack of state funding for higher education due to a budget impasse in Springfield.