Below is a copy of a letter the Student Government Association sent to the Board of Trustees about the tuition increase the Board approved at their February meeting.
As a story in the March 15 Apache pointed out, the SGA had been led to believe they would have time to discuss the possible increase and share their views with the Board. The Board voted on the increase, however, before the SGA could meet.
To: The Illinois Valley Community College Board of Trustees
On February 11, the Student Government Association was told about the proposed tuition increase and the reasoning behind it. The members thought that the issue would be going to the Board for the March meeting. However, the SGA members were then informed that the issue would be going to the Board for the February 17th meeting. This only allowed the SGA members 3 days to offer any input. This time limitation restricted our ability to convene as a group to discuss the matter at length. Therefore, although we know that this letter will not effect the current decision to raise tuition, we would like to express our opinions on the topic.
After listening to the rationale presented, we, as a group, can understand the need to increase revenue at the college. However, we do not have a concern about raising the tuition. It was explained to the SGA members that the college gets its funding from three sources, and we can appreciate the fact that the students’ tuition only represents 20% of the 100% total revenue taken by the college. However, by adding the fees to this amount, the students are actually paying 36% of the total revenue. With all of this in mind, we do not think that it is fair that taxpayers are not asked to pay an equal amount. We were told that the college is operating under the same tax referendum that was passed when the college opened. Further, it was explained that when a new tax referendum was proposed in the past that the citizens said that the college’s tuition was too low and it needed to be raised. According to the information that we received, tuition has more than doubled over the past 10 years. Additionally, we have seen tuition increases every year for the past 10 years. We, as representatives of the student body, have asked, "at what point have we fulfilled our financial obligation?"
We know that Illinois Valley Community College is relatively inexpensive when compared to four-year institutions. However, if we are a community college and the community can take full advantage of everything that we have to offer, why is the community not being asked to financially support the college? People come to plays, sports events, programs, etc. We fully encourage this, but all of these things have a cost, and the students are being held solely responsible for the increases that are taking place.
We would ask that before another tuition increase is proposed that the taxpayers within our community are approached with a proposed referendum. We realize that tax increases are never popular, but by the same token neither are tuition increases.
We, as a group also have concerns about the standard fee. However, at this time, we feel that the tuition should be the main focus.
We would like to thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
April 8, 1999, the Apache