Tuition increase approved, more to come
By JJ Ossola
IV Leader Editor, Mar 15, 2007
Illinois Valley Community College students will see a four
percent increase in their tuition and universal fees for the fall semester in
the form of a $2.50 tuition hike.
IVCC president Larry Huffman said, “It is a going to cost the
average student less than one hundred dollars a year which seemed a reasonable.
It is impossible to predict but with every other community college raising their
tuition [and universal fees,] we will face another increase next year.”
“We are striving to keep IVCC as affordable as possible while
maintaining the quality of our product,” said Jerry Cochoron, vice president for
business services and finance. He added, “For the 2007 year, we are
approximately at the 85% of the average community college cost.”
While Governor Rod Blagojevich in his state of the state
speech emphasized the need to better fund education, Huffman said, “Informally
we have been told that there won’t be any increase in state funding for
community colleges. At best, we could hope for a 1.1% increase.”
IVCC is currently operating with a balanced budget and slight
surplus but has to remain at the 85% tuition costs average in order to keep
receiving the equalization grant. Corcoran said, “The grant is a large portion
of our income and amounts to approximately two and a half million dollars a
year.”
In order to help offset the increase in tuition, the IVCC
Board of trustees acted on Huffman’s recommendations of removing “a nuisance
cost for students.” Students will now be able to forgo the twenty dollar
graduation fee and the transcript fee has been eliminated.
In regards to future costs, Corcoran said, “A large portion
of our operating costs goes towards salaries and health care benefits. We are
focused on trying to improve the pay scale of our part-time faculty while
keeping ourselves in a position to recruit quality instructors.”
In the March 23, 2006 IV Leader, Interim president Charles
Novak said, “I think this trend will go on for awhile and IVCC will be forced to
play catch up every year.” IVCC is currently one of the cheapest community
colleges in the state, ranking in the bottom 15 percent for tuition costs.
Novak’s prediction seems to still ring true as Waubonsee
Community College recently raised their tuition by five dollars, bringing their
combined cost to $75 up from $50 in 2003. The College of DuPage increased their
cost per hour by $7. COD has gone from $96 to $103, gaining the dubious
distinction of being the first Illinois community college to break the $100
marker. The board of trustees for the COD has already approved future increases
of $5 for the summer of 2008 and $6 in 2009.
Currently COD is among the top three, most expensive Illinois
community colleges to attend, with Harper College and South Suburban College as
numbers one and two respectively. Elgin Community College is currently $84 per
credit hour, Harper College is $81.