Kirkwood board approves 3.9 percent tuition increase

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Students at Kirkwood Community College will pay $5 more per credit hour in tuition next year, a 3.9 percent increase approved unanimously by the school's board of trustees Thursday.

The increase will make tuition $133 per credit hour next year for Kirkwood's more than 17,000 students.

State funding was favorable for community colleges this Legislative session, Kirkwood President Mick Starcevich said. But Kirkwood officials project a 5 percent decrease in credit enrollment in the fall, which necessitates the tuition increase, he said. Had enrollment been projected to remain steady, Starcevich said he would have recommended no tuition increase.

"We have to protect against the likelihood" of an enrollment decline, which will lead to a drop in revenue, he said. "This is just a safeguard for that."

Board of trustees Chairwoman Lois Bartelme said Kirkwood will remain one of the lowest-priced community colleges in Iowa, even with the increase.

This fall's projected enrollment decline would follow a 4.8 percent enrollment decline in fall 2011, to 17,610 students. That came on the heels of two years of enrollment growth that totaled more than 20 percent, Starcevich said.

The college has increased the amount is raises for student scholarships, to more than $2 million.

Also at the meeting, the board approved bids on three construction projects.

A $1.1 million bid from CJ Moyna of Elkader was the low bid out of 12 on a project to build truck-driving ranges, a training loop and a parking lot at the new Kirkwood Continuing Education Training Center, 101 50th Ave. SW.

The board also approved a bid of about $714,800 for the new Kirkwood Eagle Tech Store in Benton Hall, which will be an Apple Authorized Campus Store, and a bid of $397,400 for a remodeling project in Benton Hall.