June 05--College of DuPage students could see a drop in their tuition as soon as this fall, if a proposal floated Thursday night is approved this summer by the board.
Tuition cuts could translate into $75 in savings per semester for full-time students if a suggested $5-per-credit-hour savings becomes reality. College of DuPage students pay $140 a credit hour, which under the proposal could drop to $135. A full-time student typically takes 15 credits a semester.
"We're pretty serious," committee member Frank Napolitano said. "We need to try and bring it back down."
That news was well received on campus Friday, as students stopped by to run errands and register for summer classes.
"Any cut or any savings would be great. It always helps," said Timothy Doss, 39, of Maywood. Doss works full time and takes part-time classes in event planning at College of DuPage, he said.
Taylor Kolb, 19, of Aurora, echoed his sentiments.
"Any money that would be saved would be good for anybody," said Kolb, a full-time student and college freshman. "That's still a lot of money. Money is money."
News of a possible tuition cut came after staff presented the college's draft fiscal year 2016 operating budget, which jumped by about $24 million, or almost 16 percent, over the year before. At the meeting, officials said the operating budget was $175 million, which includes 3 percent raises for all employees next year.
The board is scheduled to approve the budget later this month.
During the presentation, Lynn Sapyta, assistant vice president of financial affairs for College of DuPage, said departments were not given a funding limit, and the budget included money for all requests from college departments for next year. However, a line-item breakdown of what those requests were was not available, she said.
"At this point, nobody was told no?" Napolitano said.
Sapyta confirmed his statement. Committee members questioned what specific funding requests might be responsible for the budget jump, and whether those were necessary expenses.
Meanwhile, Sapyta encouraged committee members to wait until spring to pass any tuition cuts, as about 3,300 students already have registered for fall classes and paid around $8 million total in tuition. Any cuts for fall, she said, could require College of DuPage to send out thousands of small-dollar refund checks.
"Administratively, it's a lot to handle," Sapyta said.
Committee members said fall tuition cuts remain an option, despite the administrative burden.
This year's budget is the first after the spring election, when three "clean slate" candidates were elected amid ongoing controversy surrounding the Glen Ellyn community college's finances and other issues. Those candidates included Napolitano and fellow budget committee member Charles Bernstein. The third "clean slate" board member, Deanne Marie Mazzochi, is not on the budget committee.
The budget up for approval this month was written earlier this year, before the new members were elected.
As a result of Thursday's discussion, committee members asked department heads to attend upcoming board meetings, and be ready to explain any significant funding requests over what was allotted last year.
"Be prepared for questions," Bernstein said.
gbookwalter@tribpub.com
