
Years ago, Lake Land College leaders began saving for a rainy day, hoping the day would never come. As state funding began dwindling, college leaders began tightening budgets and streamlining to generate savings.
While the college has become accustomed to planning based on the state being behind several million and months at a time, this year has been different since a budget has not been passed. Now into its ninth month without a budget, the state owes Lake Land College $14 million.
“Our goal is always to ensure a Lake Land College education is affordable for our students,” Lake Land College President Josh Bullock said. “Unfortunately, due to the lack of state funding for Illinois colleges and universities, we must increase tuition and fees to continue offering quality educational programs and services. Any time a tuition increase is proposed, it is taken very seriously and given careful discussion and consideration to the impact on our students.”
Bullock said all college employees have worked together to reduce budgets by 25 percent and seek out additional cost saving measures. The college has had to lay off a handful of staff during the past two years to contribute to the savings.
“We are pleased that everyone continues to put students first and work together to find solutions to reduce costs,” Bullock said. “Recently, our faculty union and administration banded together to recommend a one-year contract extension that generates savings and enacts a wage freeze for next year.”
The contract extension will be presented to the Lake Land College Board of Trustees at its regular meeting Monday, March 14.
“Lake Land College has an exceptional group of faculty who keep the focus on excellent teaching and outstanding student service. We understand that every faculty member at Lake Land College plays a vital role in quality student learning and success and have been working with the administration to preserve funding wherever we can,” Heather Nohren, president elect of the Lake Land College Faculty Association, said.
“Faculty overwhelmingly agreed to a one year contract extension that includes a 0% salary increase for the 2016/2017 academic year and the holding of vacant positions,” Nohren said. “The cost savings will allow the college to continue to offer more than 150 academic programs, while maintaining faculty positions, so the tradition of excellent teaching and academic support services for Lake Land College students remains unchanged. Faculty and administration will maintain a focus on working together to embrace the budget challenges. Our goal is to maintain outstanding academic programs and exceptional student services.”
This contract extension, combined with other savings, and the tuition and fee increase, allows Lake Land College to continue ensuring a breadth of academic offerings and college experiences to its students.
Following a tuition freeze for the 2015-2016 year, the Lake Land College Board of Trustees will be asked on March 14 to increase tuition by $10 per credit hour from $92.50 to $102.50. The proposal includes a $1 increase in fees from $1.50 to $2.50. With this increase, tuition and fees combined will be $126.30 per credit hour, or about $1,900 a semester for a full-time student taking 15 credit hours.
The tuition and fee increase brings the average total cost of one year at Lake Land College to $3,800. In addition, the college offers textbook rental which saves students up to $1,700 a year.
“We remain one of the most valuable, affordable options for students with our tuition and fees at about one-fourth of the cost of the average state university,” Bullock said. “Students who invest in a Lake Land College degree can expect to see a 20 percent return on their investment upon graduation, according to a recent study commissioned by the Illinois Community College Board.”
College faculty and staff continue to develop new programs and offerings to students, while working on almost 100 strategic planning initiatives to improve teaching and learning and enhance services to students well into the future. Just this semester, the college signed a reverse transfer agreement with Millikin University and the board of trustees is expected to approve a nursing track agreement the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing. A new business administration cohort program will be offered at the Kluthe Center for Higher Education and Technology in Effingham this fall.
“Lake Land College continues to move forward and do what we do best – create excellent learning opportunities for our students and communities,” Bullock said.
Should state leaders pass an adequate budget for higher education, Lake Land College could consider a mid-year tuition decrease to pass along savings to students.
“While this is a very difficult time in our college’s history, it is also very uplifting,” Bullock said. “We are grateful for the foresight of our past leaders who created financial stability; we are thankful for the positive attitude in which our faculty and staff have embraced the situation and worked as a team to develop solutions; and we are renewed by our thousands of students who work hard every day to change their lives through the power of a Lake Land College education.”