For the 10th time in the last 11 years, Harper College will be increasing tuition, this year by $4 per credit hour.
The board unanimously passed the increase on Feb. 15, which will bring the cost per semester hour to $106.50. It has been standard protocol for the Palatine-based community college to increase tuition cost by small amounts every year, as opposed to larger but more sporadic spikes, said school spokesman Phil Burdick.
“We like to keep increases small and predictable rather than no increases for awhile, then a large bump down the line,” he said.
The increases will be enacted during the summer semester. Harper brought in $37.5 million in tuition last year, and the increases are expected to bring in another $1.3 million annually.
A full-time student enrolled in 15 credit hours will be paying an extra $60 a semester. Other fees — a $7 per semester hour technology fee and a $9 per hour renovation and construction fee — will stay the same. Harper started charging those fees in 2001, and they have been increased periodically over time.
With one exception, all of the tuition increases have been between $4 and $6, according to Harper data. There was no increase in 2009 because the school was between presidents, so a $8.50 increase was passed in 2010 to make up for the previous year.
Harper officials touted the savings compared to four-year state and private universities. At $3,675 a year, tuition is about half of the yearly tuition of Northern Illinois University and roughly one-tenth to attend a year at Northwestern University.
Compared to other suburban two-year community colleges, Harper’s tuition and fees make it cheaper than some, such as College of DuPage’s $132 per hour cost, but more expensive than others, like College of Lake County, which is at $109.
Burdick said the school looks at a variety of factors when determining tuition costs. In addition to comparing themselves to other community colleges, Burdick said they try to keep costs under Pell Grants as to not negatively impact low-income students, and try to find a balance for students who are employed.
“We try to set it so some students can work full-time in the summer, work part-time during the school year and still be able to afford tuition,” he said.
In addition to unanimous approval from the board, the tuition increase also received support from the Harper College Student Senate. Kristina Shkaruba, the group’s president, said she supports the college’s philosophy of a small, steady increases. She said seven members of the group supported the increase, with three voting in opposition.
“Harper College is pretty amazing with the kind of activities and academics they offer, and we want that to continue,” the second-year student said. “The second reason is we were concerned about future students. We didn’t want them to have a big rise in tuition (later on) because it was frozen this year.”
