For the second straight year, Illinois Valley Community College’s administration will recommend no increase in tuition next year.
The board’s audit finance committee met Nov. 16, prior to the board’s regular monthly meeting, and reviewed a plan to keep the combined tuition and universal fee at $133 per credit hour for 2020-21.
“This action is part of a plan to increase enrollments,” said IVCC President Jerry Corcoran.
The $133 figure places IVCC favorably among 10 other colleges in its “super peer group”: Black Hawk, Heartland, Highland, Kankakee, Kishwaukee, Lake Land, Lewis & Clark, John A. Logan, Richland and Sauk Valley.
Average 2020 tuition and fees for the group is $150 per credit hour while the state average for all 39 community colleges is $147.
The full board will decide on the 2021 tuition rate Feb. 12.
Audit finance also reviewed recommended changes to the dual credit tuition fee structure, including charging a flat $30 per course fee for classes taught at high schools by high school teachers.
In addition, dual credit courses at IVCC, including online, would be charged the 75 percent tuition rate.
Students eligible for the free and reduced lunch program would continue only paying a flat $5 registration fee.
In a letter to Corcoran, Vice President for Academic Affairs Deborah Anderson suggested the college allow dual credit students to enroll in any course they choose.
“This will create opportunities for our students that currently do not exist,” she said. About 10 percent of IVCC’s enrollment is via dual credit.
In other business, Sara McKenna and Heather Wrobleski of Wipfli LLP of Sterling delivered the audit report for the year ending June 30, 2019.
The report was unmodified, or “clean,” with no material deficiencies or weaknesses. IVCC is one of the few community colleges in Illinois that is debt-free.
“Because of Cheryl Roelfsema’s prudent fiscal management, we are on solid financial footing,” said Corcoran.
In other business, the committee reviewed recommendations:
n To seek proposals for banking services, an action the college takes every four years.
n To increase student worker wages in January to $9.25 per hour to comply with a state mandate for incremental minimum wage increases.
n To increase the threshold for purchases requiring board approval from $10,000 to $25,000.
Under the change, purchases between $2,500 and $24,999 will require two-to-three written quotes.