By Cassie Fuller
IV Leader Sports Editor, Sept. 13, 2007
In the past, athletics at Illinois Valley Community College has faced budget cuts and has borrowed from the education fund to meet its expenses, but those money problems could be over at the cost of IVCC students.
A referendum was proposed at a September board meeting by Student Trustee Elizabeth Kunkel. The idea is to charge students an extra $3 per credit hour through a student activity fee to build up the athletic budget.
What this means for the average 16 credit hour student is that they will pay an additional fee of $48 per semester, which should generate around $300,000 annually for the athletic program.
Although it may seem like another reason to take money out of the students’ pockets, it will be beneficial to the athletic programs, according to IVCC officials. Robert Marshall, the school’s
vice president for student services, explained that the eight teams that are at Illinois Valley Community College are expensive to support because of many different operational fees that cannot be avoided.
Different solutions for the athletic programs have been discussed between the student government and board members, but this is the first time an activity fee vote has been proposed.
Students will make their voice heard through the advisory poll, but the vote has been postponed.
Originally, students were to vote on the referendum on Sept. 13 and 14 when the polls are open for freshmen student government candidates.
However, the student government thought there was not enough time to inform students about the referendum and what benefits it can have to the athletic programs.
Instead of a fall decision, it was agreed to set a date for voting in the spring when students vote for sophomore student government officers.