Students will be paying more for tuition starting this summer.

Faced with economic decisions, the school’s Audit Finance Committee recommended an approximate 10 percent tuition raise during its January meeting. The Board of Trustees officially approved the tuition increase at the February 19th meeting.

The committee’s recommendation would bring the cost of one credit hour – tuition and universal fee – to approximately $101. However, school officials said that even with this increase, IVCC will remain one of the least expensive community colleges in the state; the state average for fiscal 2013 is $107.89.

School officials cited level state funding, falling property taxes and decreased student enrollment as reasons why the board is forced to increase tuition.

IVCC President Jerry Corcoran said, “In 2002, the community college system received $313 million from the state for 5.9 million credit hours. In 2013, our system is receiving $288 million for 7 million credit hours. That is what is driving the financial challenges we have today.”

The tuition increase will be effective for the 2013 summer semester. The new cost for a 16 credit hour semester would be $1,616.

In addition to this general increase, tuition for the truck driver training program will be increased from $545 to $3,963, still the lowest of 13 similar community colleges offering the program.