Some students at the College of DuPage might find it a little harder to afford school after the college’s Board of Trustees voted Feb. 22 to raise tuition from $96 to $103 per credit hour starting this summer.

That means a full-time student taking 12 credit hours will spend $84 more a semester in tuition on top of buying textbooks — and the raise pits COD as one of the most expensive two-year colleges in the state.

“With the current increase, that puts us at the top,” said Brian Kleemann, a COD spokesman.

The tuition increase would net the college about $3.4 million, which would most likely be put toward operating expenses, Kleemann said.

Students also will need to pay $5 more per credit hour next summer after the board also voted for tuition to increase from $103 to $108 starting in summer 2008.
Besides increasing tuition starting this summer semester, the Glen Ellyn-based college plans to reduce a small number of staff through attrition to make ends meet.

“It’s not many,” Kleemann said. “Definitely, we’re not laying people off.”

But the increase was necessary for the two-year college to keep pace with rising costs, Kleemann said.

“With us getting less money from the state every year and tax caps, there aren’t many other ways to offset that,” Kleemann said. “Twenty years ago we were getting almost two times of our funding from the state,” he said.

In 1984, a little more than 21 percent of its budget was provided by the state, Kleemann said.

This year, the school is receiving 11.6 percent of funding from Illinois.

A decline in enrollment since the college switched from a quarter to semester system in fall 2005 also had an impact as many students took on more classes to graduate earlier before the new semester system went into effect.

But spring enrollment is up by 400 students, giving the college an enrollment of 30,498 for this semester, Kleemann said.

Still, students said they don’t think it’s fair the college passes the expense onto them.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Farah Damani, 20, of West Chicago, who’s in her fourth semester at COD.

Janie Haubrich, a fellow COD student, agreed.

“I don’t feel it should be increased,” said the 20-year-old Glendale Heights resident.
Haubrich said the tuition raise is another increase on top of expensive textbooks. The two usually pay $1,400 a semester on required textbooks.

While Damani’s parents help pay for her tuition, she works part time at the college bookstore to afford textbooks for classes.

“There are some people here who work two jobs (to pay for school),” she said.
And the increase could put some of Damani and Haubrich’s friends and fellow students in even more financial hardships.

Damani said she had to recently explain the increase to her parents after they asked why tuition had gone up two years in row.

“How could it be? We just paid that much last year,” she said.