Tuition rates to increase at GCC

By CHARITY SMITH

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Ironwood - Tuition for students at Gogebic Community College will be going up this fall. The board of trustees approved a rate increase for the 2022-2023 school year during its regular meeting on Tuesday night.

Students residing in Gogebic County will see an increase from $130 per credit hour to a rate of $134 per credit hour. Out of district and Wisconsin reciprocity area students will have an increase of $6 per credit hour to $191 and those students residing out of state will also have an increase of $6 per credit hour to $220. International student tuition will remain at $260 per credit hour.

According to Chad Lashua, the college's new vice president of business services, the college gets the majority of its funding from three sources - state appropriations (46%), property taxes (14%), and tuition (39%). The remaining 1% of the college's operating budget comes from miscellaneous sources.

"The state obviously has the most funding, but they are unpredictable," said Lashua. "We don't know if we are getting 9% or 4% and that seems to fluctuate day to day. One thing that we can control a little bit is our tuition rates that we're charging our students."

Board chairman John Lupino asked if Lashua had looked into what other colleges and universities in the area are doing for 2022-2023 tuition rates. Lashua said that the college surveyed 16 different colleges. He said their rate increases range from 2-7% for this coming school year.

"We are actually on the lighter side of that. We took the median," said Lashua. "So we are in line with what is happening across the state. With inflation, we sure as heck can't go that high, but you know it is in alignment to keep competitive with everybody else."

According to a press release the gross impact of the rate increase for the average full time student carrying 15 credit hours would be $60 per semester for those in-district, $90 for those students who are out of district in the Wisconsin reciprocity area and out of state students.

The college rate for dual enrollment, early college and early college (5th year students) for high school students in Gogebic County will remain the same at $130 per credit hour. The rate for out of district students in those programs also remains unchanged at $165 per credit hour. Course fees will not be charged for general education classes for this group of students.

The board of trustees voted to approve a request to add digital companion whiteboards for the college's chemistry and biology Zoom Room Labs. "The whiteboards integrate seamlessly with the existing Zoom Room technology and content can be shared remotely while also being displayed onsite," the release said.

The college has worked with Zoom on all prior Zoom Room purchases, and has partnered with Think Fast Holdings as its equipment source provider. The whiteboards will cost the college $23,016. Funding for this initiative will come from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds.

The board approved the resignations of Joe Mutter, Mt. Zion operations supervisor; Candace Henry-Schroeder, director of financial aid; and Aaron Froelich, manager of Campus Suites and esports coach. The Board authorized administration to search for these replacements.

The board also approved the non-affiliated staff re-appointments for July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023.