We were told that the college is operating under the same tax referendum that was passed when the college opened. Further, it was explained that when a new tax referendum was proposed in the past that the citizens said that the college's tuition was too low and it needed to be raised. According to the information that we received, tuition has more than doubled over the past 10 years. Additionally, we have seen tuition increases every year for the past 10 years. We know that Illinois Valley Community College is relatively inexpensive when compared to four-year institutions.
People come to plays, sports events, programs, etc.
We fully encourage this, but all of these things have a cost, and the students are being held solely responsible for the increases that are taking place. We would ask that before another tuition increase is proposed that the taxpayers within our community are approached with a proposed referendum. We realize that tax increases are never popular, but by the same token neither are tuition increases. We, as a group also have concerns about the standard fee. However, at this time, we feel that the tuition should be the main focus.