Although enrollment is up sharply at Danville Area Community College, the cost of educating students is also climbing. And that had DACC Trustees discussing a possible tuition hike during their meeting Thursday evening (February 23, 2023).
DACC President Stephen Nacco says the board has been very prudent….
{Audio: ‘’They don’t ever want one class of students to bear a significant increase, so what they were talking about today was incremental increases. And that’s generally where you want to be – around $5 total – but $3 (increase in) tuition and $2 (increase in) fees – and things like that. They want to keep it modest but incrementally as regular expenses go up – as our board members were talking about – our increased cost in electricity and health care, this will help off-set that.’’
The board is expected to vote on the proposed increases next month. If approved they would take effect in April.
Dr. Nacco says the increase in enrollment is the largest he has seen in twenty-two years. He believes part of the reason for the jump is the $600 bonus program being offered to full-time students who registered with more than 12 credits….
{AUDIO: ‘’But it’s also really students coming out from under the shell. Students who really don’t necessarily function as well – the traditional age students online – and getting them back with our faculty and back on campus, and doing things like pep band and doing the various clubs.’’}
DACC’s credit hour enrollment jumped by more than 16-percent for the spring semester…with full-time enrollment up more than 12-percent. The number of bodies on campus was up about 11-percent as more students headed back to campus following the pandemic.
DACC board vice-president Greg Wolfe says he thinks the board has been very responsible trying to keep its numbers balanced and still providing the services. Another DACC trustee, John Spezia noted that even if tuition rises, there are lots of opportunities for students to get scholarships.
Governor JB Pritzker proposed a 7-percent increase in funding for Illinois community colleges in his recent budget message.
