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Proposed Joliet Junior College budget includes ‘modest’ tuition increase

Joliet Junior College has published its proposed fiscal year 2022-2023 budget on its website.

The JJC Board of Trustees will vote to approve the budget at its June 15 meeting, according to a news release.

Property taxes, tuition and state funding are the three major sources of revenue available to JJC.

Property taxes are projected to make up about 58% of JJC’s revenue for the 2023 fiscal year, according to the draft budget document.

Tuition is expected to make up about 27% of its fiscal year 2023 revenues.

The budget document said JJC included a “modest” $3 per credit hour tuition increase for the 2022-2023 school year, though it kept student and technology fees unchanged. This fall, in-district students will go from paying $148 per credit hour to $151 per credit hour.

Over the past decade, JJC saw about a 32% decrease in credit hour enrollment, according to the budget document, which the college attributed to the improving economy since the 2008 financial crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic, during which JJC held nearly all of its classes online, continued to negatively impact enrollment.

The decrease in enrollment also affects the amount of state funding that JJC receives. The college projects a 5% decrease from its actual funding level during the current fiscal year.

State funding is projected to represent about 8% of its fiscal year 2023 revenues.

Federal funding, interest, facility rentals and other sources make up the final 7% of JJC’s revenues.

The college will spend about 64% of those revenues on salaries and another 15% on benefits, according to the budget document. The college has employed just under 1,300 full and part-time employees for at least the last two fiscal years.

Part-time faculty make up about three-quarters of the total faculty and teach 44% of credit courses.

JJC bargains salaries with unions for its full-time faculty, food service workers, campus police, facility services and receiving employees, adjunct faculty, and technical office support staff.

JJC was able to fill an estimated $3.3 million operating deficit with pandemic relief funds.

For more information, visit jjc.edu.

Source: The Daily Chronicle

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