BY MIKE HELENTHAL
DANVILLE — Trustees will be asked at their March meeting Tuesday to pass a $10 credit-hour tuition increase for students attending Danville Area Community College — but it likely won’t be the last time they’re asked.
College President Alice Jacobs submitted the rate-hike proposal for discussion at last month’s meeting without trustee dissension and generally supportive comments for the measure.
She said Saturday the March 10 dire budget message from Gov. Pat Quinn didn’t exactly inspire confidence that the continued downward spiral of state support for DACC would improve anytime soon.
“I anticipate we’ll be required to have rates increase again next year,” she said.
Approving the proposal Tuesday would bring next year’s total cost per credit hour, including the $12 activity fee, to $101. The per-credit-hour rate alone would jump from $79 to $89.
Tuition at DACC has increased every year but three since 1979, when the rate was just $12 per hour. The last tuition freeze was in 1997.
Jacobs said the college’s record of annual increases is part of an Illinois community-college trend asking students to pick up more of the tab with the absence of state funds.
“It’s still much less than a university parallel,” she said of the cost to attend a community college. She said the value is not just due to the low up-front cost but also because community-college students don’t owe as much in loans upon graduation.
“We tell our students not to borrow anything if they can help it until they’re juniors or seniors,” she said.
Jacobs said in 1994, Illinois provided about 40 percent of DACC’s operating budget. By next year she expects that percentage to be cut in half, while local property taxes continue to fund approximately one-third of the budget.
Meanwhile, she said the college had cut 20 full-time positions as headcount has doubled over the past 10 years. That leaves students as the only other revenue alternative, she added.
Board members also will address two capital improvements projects:
-- A private donor has offered to pay $390,000 to reconstruct the campus ornamental horticulture greenhouse, which includes asbestos abatement.
-- The auto-body paint shop booth needs $150,000 in upgrades to be in compliance with new Environmental Protection Agency standards, a project that could be funded with health-safety funds.
COMING UP
The Danville Area Community College board of trustees will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 302, Vermilion Hall, DACC.
