IVCC still has not received the allotted budget for fiscal year 2017. With fiscal year 2018 quickly approaching, IVCC expects very little help from the state in terms of operating funds.

Cheryl Roelfsema, Vice President for Business Services and Finance at IVCC, says the college is working to try and keep the lack of budget from affecting students.

“Through all this budget turmoil, we try to give quality education at an affordable price,” Roelfsema says. “Without the state funding, we only have two areas to get money.”

Taxpayers and tuition make up the other two parts of the three-unit revenue structure, and without the budget from the state, students and taxpayers must make up the difference.

“We are working to keep our costs under control,” Roelfsema states.

The college is planning to expect less from the state, as 2015 was the last year that IVCC had a fulfilled budget from the state.

This year, the college has received 50 percent of what they expected from the state.

“Unless it’s appropriated, the state claims that they don’t owe anything.” Roelfsema explains. “We’ll never see money from previous years.”

Cheryl Roelfsema urges students to talk to their legislators to hold Illinois accountable for maintaining their community colleges’ upkeep.

“They really need to fund the community colleges,” Roelfsema says. “Operating funds are most important to keep tuition down and offer tuition assistance to students.”

MAP funding is also a priority, though according to Roelfsema, what the state promises to give for MAP grants is for all the colleges; IVCC gets a percentage of what the state of Illinois will promise.

“We predict that they will come through on the MAP funding,” Roelfsema says. “If we don’t get it from the state, IVCC will cover it.”

No cuts have been planned for the fiscal year of 2018, though even the most popular programs like nursing are losing money.

“IVCC had some reserves,” Roelfsema discloses, “So we are able to move forward. We should have some for fiscal year 2018 as well, but I’m not sure beyond that.”