Illinois Community College Board hears of tuition woes

Central Illinois meeting planned for Sept. 8

[September 02, 2008]  SPRINGFIELD -- In the face of historically high tuition costs and dwindling resources, the Illinois Community College Board's Budget and Finance Committee heard testimony Aug. 25 on the critical state of funding for community colleges. The committee met at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn for the first of three planned meetings to gather information on the impact of current funding for Illinois community colleges.

The committee plans to conduct a hearing at Illinois Central College in East Peoria on Sept. 8 and another at John A. Logan College in Carterville on Sept. 18. State legislators also are being invited to attend.

When the Illinois Community College Board meets at Rend Lake College in Ina on Sept. 19, the entire board will hear a report from the Budget and Finance Committee on its hearings.

The committee is co-chaired by Illinois Community College Board members Suzanne Morris of Grayslake and Thomas Pulver of Glen Ellyn.

"(We are) concerned about the accessibility to education and the increasing debt load that our students are accumulating by the time they leave the community college," said Dr. Harold McAnich, the interim president of the College of DuPage, in testimony he presented. "A recent survey indicated 21 percent of our students not returning for classes did so because of the cost."

The tuition at community colleges has risen more than 31 percent in past five years. That increase is higher with the beginning of the fall semester, when many students will find the cost of a credit hour more than $100. For a full-time student that means about $3,000 per year in tuition.

The rising tuition cost is "a back-door tax on the people who can least afford it," said Bill Naegele, a faculty member at South Suburban College in South Holland. Naegele also cited the need to shift educational program money into maintenance projects at his college due to lack of funds for capital upkeep.

"If community colleges are supposed to be 'students first,' I am seriously asking what it would take to lower the tuition to make our colleges as affordable as they should be," said Morris.

The committee also heard from students and advisers in adult education programs. The Illinois Community College Board administers those programs and GED testing for the state. The need for more funding in this area was also addressed.

"Every semester we must turn away students as space is limited and classes are filled to capacity," Peggy Heinrich, associate dean of adult education at Elgin Community College, told the committee.

Colleges represented at the hearing were College of DuPage, College of Lake County, Waubonsee Community College, Elgin Community College, South Suburban College and Moraine Valley Community College.

Illinois community colleges serve about a million students each year in credit and non-credit course offerings. Enrollments are highest in programs that transfer to baccalaureate degree studies and in two-year career and technical degrees.

[Text from Illinois Community College Board file received from the Illinois Office of Communication and Information]