By Tia Messino
IV Leader Staff, Sept. 3, 2009
The financial crisis impacting the state and nation also is having an impact at Illinois Valley Community College.
IVCC president Jerry Corcoran said the recent downturn has had many consequences for IVCC.
He stated that the funding provided by the state of Illinois for IVCC was cut by about $300,000.
One source of revenue for the college is an equalization grant provided by the state. The equalization grant offered to IVCC was about $412,000 last year; this year, however, the grant dropped to $100,000.
Another way that IVCC and its students are hurting is the state MAP (Monetary Award Program) grant; for the fall semester, the awarded MAP grants to students were about
half of previous years and this is during a time when student eligibility moved up 30 percent.
It also appears that there will be no MAP grants awarded for the spring semester, Corcoran stated.
Although the financial cuts are difficult to deal with when trying to maintain a balanced budget, IVCC is working hard to make do with what they have while still maintaining the high quality services offered to students.
Corcoran explained that IVCC is waiting to find out the assessed valuation of Exelon Nuclear Power Plant since Exelon is the largest taxpayer in the college’s district. This information will help illuminate where IVCC stands in regards to finances.
As far as the politics aspect of this goes, Corcoran explains that he feels our legislators care about the issue but are in a difficult position.
Despite the sober financial picture, there is some good news for students: as of right now it appears there will not be an additional increase in tuition costs and there are no intended cuts to services.
Over the summer, there was a $2 per credit hour tuition increase; however, IVCC is still the second least expensive community college in Illinois.
The big question seems to be whether things are going to get better for IVCC next fiscal year. When asked about the outlook for the upcoming year Corcoran cited a meeting with Sen. Gary Dahl and Rep. Frank
Mautino where they expressed concern for the financial future of Illinois.
IVCC is now in the position that many are in, surviving on less, while IVCC is trying to avoid cutting its services the name of the game seems to be living within one’s means.
When asked how IVCC will make up the differences in budget Jerry Corcoran put it simply:
“I told our Board of Trustees that the bottom line is we’ll live within our means; however, now is not the time to turn people away from what we have to offer in the way of educational opportunities.”
Corcoran wants to make sure that even though finances may be difficult, students will still have all the opportunities to succeed.