Monday, April 13, 2009 10:41 PM CDT
Citing dip in funding, Lake Land raises tuition, fees
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
MATTOON — Lake Land College students will pay up to $75 more per semester for full-time tuition and fees starting this summer.
LLC trustees Monday approved a tuition increase of $4 more per credit hour and $1 more for fees. A year ago this month, the college increased its tuition $5 per credit hour and tacked on another dollar on fees as well.
“To keep pace with technology and serve the community at the level we do, then we must do this,” said college President Scott Lensink prior to the unanimous vote on the measure.
Lensink and board members pointed out that the college has received a 14-percent decrease in state funding and depended on its surplus funds to make up that shortfall. Trustee Tom Niebrugge said this tuition increase will not generate a surplus of funds but only pay dollar-per-dollar for funding reductions.
College leaders anticipate both state and local revenues will be “essentially flat” for the coming fiscal year; therefore, the tuition hike is need to offset ongoing increases in salaries, utilities and other expenses, they said.
Board Chairwoman Doris Reynolds acknowledged that taxpayers are experiencing increases in utilities, fuel and other necessary expenses. But the college is also playing more as well, she said.
Trustee Jim Shaffer said the good news is that Lake Land is keeping pace on classes and programs while still keeping tuition affordable. It was noted by board members that Lake Land is still the third lowest on tuition rates for community colleges in Illinois.
The vote for the tuition increase was accepted by Reynolds,
Shaffer, Niebrugge, Leland Glazebrook, Marianne Morgan, Carl Hart, Mike Sullivan and newly appointed student trustee Josh Wollin.
Wollin won his seat in recent LLC student government association elections.
In other fiscal business Monday, the board accepted two grants expected to total more than $50,000. The KnowHow2GoIllinois grant will help promote post-secondary education in Mattoon through three high school events, while the Growing Agricultural Science Teachers Grant will fund outreach and internship opportunities to 15 high schools within the college district. It will also fund scholarships for 16 LLC ag students seeking agricultural science teacher education careers.
The college board also approved the $98,629 purchase of a “human patient simulator” to provide enhanced training to nursing students. The unit from METI of Sarasota, Fla., will demonstrate symptoms through faculty programming, said Jim Hull, LLC vice president of academic services.
The board also accepted 2 + 2 agreements with Millikin University to assist LLC students with transfers to the university for seeking degrees in marketing, accounting, information technology, including Web-based, computer applications, network administration and programming, business management, and associate in science in business management through online or traditional classes.
These agreements make transferring credits easier from the community college to four-year schools.
Board policy revisions were also approved to expand family medical leave for employees of military personnel. The employee vacation policy was adjusted to earned vacation time and an addition was made: a requirement of forwarding requests to the college director of human resources.
Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
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