Tuition, Fee Hikes Considered at DACC

Trustees at Parkland College in Champaign and Richland Community College in Decatur voted in February to approve tuition and fee increases for next year. Now, trustees at Danville Area Community College are set to vote for their own increase Tuesday evening.

College president Alice Jacobs says the increase will help them face a reduction in state funding, if the state income tax increase signed in 2011 drops as scheduled next year from 5% to 3.75%.

 “We are hoping that perhaps our state revenue will be the same amount as last year”, said Jacobs. “However, we’ve been advised that there’s a potential that it may be reduced 12 or 13, or even 20 percent.”

Jacobs says they also need to pay for new staff hired to comply with the Affordable Care Act, and make up for a continuing drop in property taxes due to Danville’s declining property tax base --- although she says tax revenue from farmland has cushioned the decline.

Danville college trustees will vote at their Tuesday, March 25th meeting on a plan to raise tuition and fees by a combined $5 ($2 for tuition and $3 for DACC’s first fee increase since 2010), for a total increase of $125 per credit hour for in-district students. The previous year, Danville Area Community College raised its tuition by $10, to help pay for new faculty positions.

If approved, DACC’s tuition and fee levels for in-district students will continue to fall in between the higher-priced Parkland College, and the lower-priced Richland Community College.

Richland Community College trustees voted in February to raise per-credit hour tuition and fees by a total of $7 to $114.

Also in February, Parkland College trustees voted to raise per-credit-hour tuition and fees by $14, for a total cost of $131.50.

Danville Area Community College trustees are scheduled to meet Tuesday, March 25th at 7 PM, at the DACC Board Room, Vermilion Hall 203 on the college campus at 2000 East Main Street, Danville.