So in real terms, their attempt to buy off inflation through borrowing makes them poorer than they would otherwise have been.
He said money for the takeover would be raised through borrowing and issuing new shares.
Taken together, those steps would still leave $7 billion to be raised through borrowing.
Forty percent of the university's construction program was financed through borrowing.
Over the summer, the state tried to make up about $1 billion of the gap through spending cuts and borrowing.
It also enacted the governor's plan to raise more than $350 million through new borrowing for private and public colleges, officials said.
There, too, most of the $2.5 billion not covered by federal funds will be raised through borrowing.
"It will be necessary to finance three fourths of our next budget through borrowing."
Analysts said they expected he could then make up the remaining $900 million difference through borrowing.
But none of the $450 million, which was to be raised through borrowing, was spent.