Board Report: Scholarship growth provides support for more students

More Illinois Valley Community College students received assistance to pay their education costs this year, and more scholarships became available to help cover their expenses, IVCC President Dr. Tracy Morris reported to the College Board of Trustees on Tuesday. Nearly 60 percent of students who applied received an award.

As the number of recipients grows, so does the generosity behind creating scholarships. “The IVCC Foundation awarded 327 scholarships worth $377,000 this year compared to 275 scholarships last year, which amounted to close to $50,000 more in scholarships. That is fantastic news,” Morris said.

Dr. Morris also reported the latest fall enrollment figures, with nearly one month left before classes begin. The number of students taking classes is up 4.91 percent compared to last year’s head count at this point, and those students have enrolled in 5.34 percent more credit hours. The figures reflect increases in most areas, including in traditional, online and dual credit enrollment.

The Board also approved a tentative budget including $42.7 million in revenues and $46.9 million in expenditures and scheduled a public hearing for Aug. 19.

The budget reflects a 3.1 percent increase in revenues over FY2025 due to an increase in property tax revenue, tuition and fees and investment income, and a 4.2 percent increase in expenses, due mainly to inflation, insurance rate increases and technology purchases. The operational budget is presented as a balanced budget whereby no one-time revenues are used to cover operational expenditures. However, it does include a $350,000 transfer from working cash investment income, and fund balance expenditures to support Master Plan initiatives.

The document was placed on file July 16 and is available for public inspection through Aug. 19 in the College Business Office, Room C-338, during normal business hours, or on the College website at this link: https://www.ivcc.edu/businessservices/financial-budgets/FY2026_Tentative_Budget.pdf.

In other action, the Board:

• Learned that use of the campus food pantry, Eagles Peak, keeps growing. The number of visits to the food pantry jumped nearly 300 percent in the last year, and the pantry is supplying more household occupants and more children in those households. 
• Updated a funding request to the Community College Capital Resource Allocation Management Program (RAMP) for remodeling Jacobs Library/Academic Support Center and creating a nursing simulation lab in B201. Local funding would cover $1.8 million of the $7.2 million Academic Support Center project and $750,000 of the $3 million nursing lab project.
• Learned that federal funding has been restored to TRIO programs such as IVCC’s Project Success, which will receive $347,000 a year for the next five years to assist students who qualify as low income, are first-generation college students, or have a disability.
• Authorized the purchase of classroom furniture for a Certified Nursing Assistant classroom, five nursing labs and a dental assisting classroom from KI Furniture of Green Bay, Wisc., for $72,500, which is funded by a grant.
• Accepted a proposal from Wellfleet Insurance Company for blanket student athletic insurance coverage at $77,830, and a proposal from Gallagher for student athletic catastrophic insurance coverage with Zurich at $6,520.
• Approved the purchases of elevator maintenance services from ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corp., of Peoria, at an annual cost of $34,848.
• Approved the appointments of Dr. Wayne Duerkes as Transfer Coordinator, Scott Grubar as welding instructor, Valerie Kreiser as early childhood education instructor, and the appointment of Manessa Trench as administrative assistant in the Humanities, Fine Arts, and Social Sciences division.