We've seen a trend of that dropping
with the security update to the vehicle
Committee on education and child development will start.
Good afternoon. The Committee on Education
and Child Development will now come to order today.
We'll be conducting a subject matter hearing
to learn more about city Colleges
of Chicago's budget and capital needs.
This is the second of a two part hearing.
We will begin with a roll call to established core
vice chair, clay Alderman,
Yancy, alderman Hall, alderman, bill
Alderman, Chico, Alderwoman Lee,
alderman Quinn, Alderwoman Gutierrez,
Alderwoman Coleman.
Y'all know all the women. Lee is our favorite. Alderman.
osha, Alder, wo Woman.
Ententes Alderman. Tyler Farro.
Alder Woman. Rodriguez Sanchez. Alderman Gardner.
Present via Zoom.
You're on Zoom. Okay. Thank you.
Yeah, I'm gonna do that. First I need to count.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
We have 10 members present. Non-members who are present.
Alderman Vasquez and Alderman, Mike Rodriguez.
Um, at this time we will begin the public comment period.
This period is limited to 30 minutes.
Outta respect for everybody's time.
Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
I like to call, uh, George Blake Moore.
I was here at the meeting that you had last time
about the junior college,
and this one is dealing with the finance, the budget.
And I see you have several, a contractor.
You know, I always use the race code
and when I see things that's realistic, black
and brown, I see black.
So I'm wondering when, when you have these contractors,
MBEs and wbe,
and you could probably have some, uh,
black or white women also come in,
I advocate, that are set aside for black people.
30% of all the jobs
in the junior college system, contracts
and jobs and service will be black people
because white women can come
and they're are considered minorities.
Hispanic can come Asian
and uh, other people can come in
and it would be totally legal
with no black participation.
That's why it's very important to have a man of Mr.
Blakemore caliber coming to these meetings.
You understand what I'm saying?
A set aside for black people who will deny
and enslaved in this country.
We are playing their job.
These people are 300 years ahead of us.
And I noticed when the public get up to speak,
you all have side convers sessions.
One going on in their set, one over here and one over there.
Have some respect.
That's why sometime I, I I use all kind of language.
I do. I curse y'all
because you all are so disrespectful to the public
and you forget that you are public servant.
The public is paying you.
And when somebody come up to speak, play like you want
to hear them, you can let it go in one
ear and out the other.
But don't let them see you in this light when they,
when you carrying on another conversation
that's very disrespectful to the office
that you're sitting in as Alta, uh,
you all are being disrespectful, unprofessional.
I'm still looking at, uh, Valez
or whatever his name, uh, talking to somebody else.
Thank you Mr. Blakemore. We'll have George from asme.
George, I'm not gonna chop up your name
'cause I definitely, you know,
I chop it up every time, so I'm not gonna do that.
Well, could you please state your
first and last name for the record?
My name is George Banes.
I'm the President of the Adult Education Faculty
for the City College of Chicago, AFSCME 35 0 6.
Um, I'm very glad to see the chancellor here.
Uh, talking about the great progress
that we have done financially in the city colleges.
The big question always is, is the money invested
on behalf of our communities and our students?
Um, I have some doubts
and these doubts are based on
what our students are experiencing in the city colleges
and what our faculty, uh, has experienced.
Adult education is the biggest program of the city.
College of Chicago, historically has been one
of the biggest ones in the state.
Uh, and the nation definitely in the Midwest,
a hundred thousand young people, primarily African American
and Latino, don't have a high school diploma,
um, between the ages of 20 and 30,
and they're facing foreclosed futures.
No access to careers, no access to education.
The projections from the state is
that they will eventually cost the city of Chicago
about a million dollars each if we don't help them to get
that adult high school diploma.
Um, the collapsing enrollment of
adult high school students has been tremendous.
The last I looked, uh, with a Vice Center
for Adult Education at Kennedy King,
there were 159 students registered for the semester.
When I taught at Kennedy King a few years back,
there were about 2000.
Now, I'm not gonna say this is the chancellor's
of the administration's fault,
but some accountability to be taken
of not investing on our communities that have the most need.
Um, I looked at some of the statements made by
the administration, says, uh, took very difficult steps
to reduce large administrative stuff by more than a hundred,
but that might be overall true.
When I became president back in 2016,
there are 600 instructors in adult education.
There are 280 now,
and the number of administrators in adult education
has almost tripled.
So that's a very different story for us.
I see here it says, I committed to fundraising
and reducing student bad debt.
Harold Washington in the center of downtown no longer
offers any adult education,
and he hasn't done so for more than a decade.
Now what do they do?
They take adult education students
and they charge them tuition.
They're expanding the same model
At Truman Malcolm where kids have no business
and they will never be,
they will never even be able to make it. Credit glasses,
Please wrap up.
Alright, come on George. Wrap it up please.
Come on, George.
Two days. I, I, I,
George George.
Mr. George, I need you to wrap it up. Thank you.
Next we'll have Randall Miller.
Mr. Miller, you may proceed. Thank
You. Uh,
my name's Randy Miller.
I'm an adjunct professor at City Colleges.
I'm also the president of City College's contingent
Labor Organizing Committee.
Our union represents a thousand adjunct faculty,
part-time librarians
and vocational lecturers at City Colleges of Chicago.
Our members are committed to city colleges
and delivering high quality public education
to the students of Chicago.
We teach a majority of the credit based, uh,
classes offered at CCC.
Uh, we love what we do.
We love educating the next generation
of Chicago workers and the service.
We provide the most vulnerable students in the city.
The seven city colleges campuses are attended
by students from all 50 wards,
and our students' lives are as unique as they are.
We teach post high school students,
high school dual credit students,
but also many adults returning to college
who have children themselves
or are working while they complete their education.
Many of our students are immigrants,
dreamers or first generation.
Some of our students are homeless or face daily food
and security all require significant investment
by the adjuncts, librarians,
and vocational lecturers who stand in the front lines
of the classroom library or workshop.
Unfortunately, many adjuncts at city colleges also face
incredible struggles to make ends meet the maximum.
An adjunct and earn at CCC in a given year is
right on the poverty line.
Less than $30,000.
Internal polling of our members shows that 25% of us,
including myself, use some sort
of government assistance to stay afloat.
While CCC pays adjunct professors poverty level wages,
our salaries are often being subsidized
by other public funds that could be better applied to those
who are not employed by the city of Chicago.
In 2020, this body unanimously passed a resolution calling
on city colleges to provide an equitable
and living wage for its part-time fa adjunct faculty
and for the colleges to quote, end its inequitable practice
of paying employees do the same work at disparate rates.
All 50 city counselors voted in favor of this resolution.
Today we continue to teach the same classes
as full-time professors
with the same students in the same classrooms,
with the same learning outcomes
and the same student expectations.
Yet the lowest paid full-time faculty member earns roughly
$5,400 for a standard three credit course.
While the most experienced
and highest paid adjunct earns only $3,600
to teach the same course.
C-C-C-L-O-C is calling on the city council
to make good on its resolution
and fully fund pay equity
for adjunct faculty at City Colleges of Chicago
in a blue city with progressive mayor,
a progressive led city council, a democratic governor,
and a democratic state legislature.
No public employee working for the city
of Chicago should be living on the poverty line,
particularly those with the enormous task of educating
and trading the city's future workforce.
There is no excuse. Adjuncts deserve better.
Our students deserve better.
On behalf of city college's contingent Labor organizing
committee, I ask that this committee
recognize the invaluable service of city college's adjuncts
by fully supporting
and funding equal pay
for equal work at city colleges. Thank you.
Thank you. That concludes the comment, uh,
public speaking comment.
Our first order of business is the January Rule 45 report,
which was sent out to the committee.
Can I get a motion to approve Rule 45 report?
So moved by all the woman Guttier Gutierrez.
All those in favor of passing this resolution
respond by saying aye.
All those opposed in the opinion of the chair.
The ayes have it. I will now turn it over
to Chancellor Juan Salgado from City Colleges of Chicago
to start their presentation.
Good morning, uh, chair.
Uh, well afternoon now, uh, chair Taylor, members
of the committee, committee staff,
uh, members of the public.
I am pleased to return to this body with several members
of our city college's team to continue
to update you on the progress
of Chicago's community college system.
Our 4,000 City college faculty
and staff provide dedicated service
to more than 60,000 students each year, across seven
independently accredited colleges
and five satellite sites throughout the city.
I'm honored to serve as Chancellor City Colleges
for the last six and a half years
during which time we have built
and implemented a strategic plan with the vision to serve
as the city's most accessible higher education engine
of socioeconomic mobility and racial equity.
When we were here earlier this month,
we told you about the amazing students we serve,
their varied goals
and backgrounds of whom 34 three-fourths are
black or Latinx.
We talked about our more than 200 quality,
affordable programs from cybersecurity
to advanced manufacturing to free English
as a second language and high school diploma programs.
We highly the ways we partner with the city
and identified with your feedback ways we can do even more.
We shared with you the news of our enrollment growth,
which has surpassed state and national averages.
We discussed our deep relationship
with the Chicago Public Schools through the Chicago roadmap.
We addressed the many ways we go about supporting our
students from scholarships to academic mental health
and other supports.
And we reviewed
how our student outcomes have rebounded
in spite of the pandemic.
Today we will focus on City College of Chicago finances.
I'm proud of City College's financial position today.
It's been a core focus of my tenure
to restore the system's financial health.
When I arrived at city colleges in 2017,
I found an institution in a financial crisis.
Cash on hand was well below the level recommended
by our board governance.
The system faced a four notch downgrade and its bond rating,
and it was placed on credit watch negative.
Immediately I took action.
I took the very difficult step
of reducing largely administrative staff by more than 100.
I sold our down longtime downtown headquarters building
and moved the majority of our downtown staff out
to work at our college's campuses Closer
to our students and faculty.
I committed to fundraising and reducing student bad debt
and I put systems and people in place
to deliver strong financial management.
I'm proud to say that since that time,
we have dramatically improved city
college's financial position.
We have overcome the structural deficit
that predated my tenure from negative 114 million in
unrestricted net assets.
Uh, when I arrived to positive 36 million today,
we achieved the strongest cash reserve since 2015,
allowing us to make key investments fuel in our growth.
From 55 million in cash on hand when I arrived
to 159 million.
Today, we have achieved upgrades to both our credit ratings
and we've tripled our public, uh, grant
and philanthropic dollars.
We range annually from 19 to 63 million.
This progress has allowed us to continue
to enhance our supports for students from new mental health
to new housing and technology supports and much more.
And we have done all this while keeping city colleges
affordable to students
and not raising our per credit hour tuition rate
of 1 46 since 2016.
We must and will remain proactive
to maintain this strong financial foundation we have built.
We will continue to look for savings
and seek ways to thoughtfully increase revenue.
You will hear today from our Chief financial officer,
Maribel Rodriguez about our financial position
and financial plan from Deputy CFO, Jeff Wong,
who will also offer a budget overview.
You'll hear from executive Vice Chancellor
and chief of staff Veronica Rero about our proposal
for the first time in eight years
of a modest tuition increase for the coming fiscal year
and associate vice Chancellor
of financial aid and scholarships.
Tiffany Morrison will put this proposed change into the cons
con context of recent increases in federal financial aid
and state map grants.
And finally, vice Chancellor of Legislative
and Community Affairs, Jen Mason, will address the timeline
and communication of our tuition proposal.
Um, I do wanna reiterate that we appreciate, uh,
your offer assistance
and, uh, your, uh, particular, uh, chair Taylor, your offer
to continue advocating with us
and for us for funding support, especially
from Springfield.
Before I hand it off, I do wanna thank the chair
and the committee for giving us this opportunity
to update you on city colleges.
We look forward to your questions
and we hope this will continue to be one
of several touch points we have
with the committee in the months ahead.
Thank you. And now I will pass it on to CFO, uh, Rodriguez.
Thank you Chancellor. Thank you Chancellor.
Good afternoon everyone.
I am Maribel Rodriguez
and I've been the CFO at City Colleges of Chicago
for the last five years.
In 2017,
city colleges faced significant financial challenges.
We were placed on a credit watch
after multiple credit rating downgrades
and our cash levels were well below our,
uh, required guidelines.
Under the leadership of chance of Sarga,
swift decisions were made to stabilize the finances, such
as the difficult reduction in non-BAR for administrative
initiating the sale of the downtown headquarters,
which was closed on September 30th, 2019,
right before the pandemic.
A very fortuitous timing given the current commercial real
estate market at the time.
Since I joined in 2018, we've continued
to manage our resources
by making prudent decisions in our annual budget process,
which has allowed us to build healthy reserves
and improve our credit ratings in the municipal bond market.
We have also more than tripled philanthropic
and public rent dollars to continue to support our students.
We are happy to report we have rebuilt our cash reserves
and eliminated a structural financial deficit.
Cash reserves were only $55 million in 2017 as a result
of our multi-year operating surpluses.
Since 2020, we are now back at healthy levels
and currently around $160 million, which is well
above our 90 day cash on hand policy of $70 million.
Additionally, we've seen significant improvement in
unrestricted net assets, which were positive in 2022
for the first time since 2015.
The overall improvement from 2017
to 2023 is a positive $150 million,
which is a complete turnaround for the institution.
I will now turn it over to Jeff Wong, deputy CFO
to cover the next slides.
Thank you Maribel. Uh, I'm Jeff Wong, deputy CFO.
I've been with City College of
of Chicago for nine years now.
Prior to 2017, city College has had a legacy
of bad debt expense or uncollected student debt.
As shown on this chart, we've since remedied the issue
by reinstating tuition payment deadlines, um,
while at the same time welcoming students back
to city colleges through our fresh start
debt forgiveness program.
Payment deadlines are common at most colleges
and require a student to demonstrate an ability to pay
for class before classes begin.
City colleges did not have this requirement prior
to Chancellor Salgado's arrival, um, which led
to accumulating bad debt
and not putting students in the best position to succeed.
Our most recent budget totals $522 million
and is comprised of operating capital
and restricted fund resources.
Our operating budget supports general operations while our
capital plan funds information technology enhancements
and facility projects designed
to improve the student experience.
I'll get into these a little bit more later.
Uh, our restricted funds include state and federal grants
and direct financial aid pass through to students.
This slide shows a breakdown of our 2024 revenues by source.
As you can see, the largest comes from local property tax
revenue at 43%, followed by state grants
and corporate tax collections known as PPRT at 29%.
Tuition revenue also continues
to climb higher on a percentage basis as we continue
to grow enrollment and currently stands at 22% of the total.
On the expense side.
Our largest expense is personnel costs,
which represents 76% of the total.
The next largest is in our fixed charges line,
which includes debt payments on outstanding bonds.
Used to build a new Malcolm X College daily
DA's advanced manufacturing facility,
and Olive Harvey's TDL program.
Our capital spend focuses on a growing share towards
information technology enhancements
and information security, um, as well
as improving student spaces, uh, in the academics labs, uh,
and as well as critical deferred maintenance projects.
This committee recently received a list of 132 million
priority capital requests,
and that is included in another summary
form on the next slide.
And as you can see,
it represents all seven colleges
and four of our satellite locations as well.
And with that, I'll turn it back to Maribel.
Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Jeff.
The next couple of slides show our financial plan
through 2027.
This slide shows a turnaround
of the $150 million improvement in the unrestricted net
assets referenced earlier.
We continue to strengthen our financial positioning
with the accumulation of positive fund balances from a
negative position in the unrestricted fund back in 2017.
Our financial plan shows
that we are still maintaining positive balances
through the 2027 budget,
and we will show some of those financial levers
to be considered in an upcoming slide.
In 2017, our cash balances were depleted to $55 million due
to the state budget impasse
and the use of cash reserves to finance capital projects.
And we have since rebuilt cash levels to
around $160 million today due
to multi-year operating services.
The sale of the downtown headquarters record high PPRT
or corporate tax collections since 2021
and strong fiscal management actions implemented,
we'll continue to fund capital projects from reserves,
which will impact our cash balances.
Any additional capital support from the state will allow us
to maintain existing levels.
We continue to project healthy cash levels
for the institution through 2027
as we execute our financial strategies
that I will cover on the next slide.
We have a number of financial options available
to manage any future budget gaps, some
of which already have been implemented
or are in process such as the recent bond refunding
for the go 2013 bonds that yielded $29 million in savings.
I'm delighted to share that this transaction had a 100%
MWBE participation.
I'd like to thank the Loop
and Cabrera Teams teams led by Jim Reynolds
and Martin Cabrera for their support on this
successful transaction.
And the co-managers involved were Blaylock Ban Estrada OSA
and Seabird Williams Chank.
Other implemented savings include benefit plan changes
expected to reduce retiree healthcare costs
by about $15 million in future years.
Other considerations include a proposed tuition increase in
FY 25, which we will cover in the upcoming slides,
and we may consider moderate increases
during annual reviews in future years.
Further, on the revenue side, we would benefit from
improved visibility into the city to fund budget planning,
seeking city stakeholder advocacy
for additional state education funding.
We may also consider closing of vacant positions
and finally using cash reserves
to smooth out future budget gaps.
If there are no further questions, I will turn it over
to Executive Vice Chancellor Herrero.
Thank you.
Hello, I'm Veronica Herrero, executive Vice Chancellor
and Chief of Staff and Advancement.
I have been with City Colleges for four and a half years.
Um, it's great to be back here with you all to share some
of our critical investments in student supports
and how our proposed new tuition rate will allow us
to maintain these critical investments.
As shared. At the last meeting, we,
we serve nearly 63,000 students across our seven colleges.
96% of our credit students are Chicago residents.
Our students are diverse. Nearly 75% are Latinx or Black.
60% are women.
We serve a combination of young people
and adult learners across our programs
with 21 being the average for our credit students
and 33 for our continuing education
and adult education students.
The other thing we know about our students is
that they are talented, resilient, and persistent.
Many enroll at city colleges while leading complex lives,
juggling multiple responsibilities.
About half of our credit students are first in their
families to go to college and working at least part-time,
often full-time.
A third are caring for children or dependents.
Nearly three quarters of our credit students who submitted
for financial aid are eligible for the Pell Grant, which go
to students with family incomes
of roughly less than $50,000.
Data from a basic needs survey that was administered,
pre pandemic told us that our students are confronted
with significant barriers as they strive
to complete their credential.
At City Colleges. Of the respondents,
54% said they were housing insecure,
44% food insecure,
and 15% identified as unhoused.
At city Colleges, it is our privilege
to serve this critical population of students.
And under the leadership of Chancellor Salgado,
we have designed, enhanced,
and strengthened a suite of supports that meets our students
where they are providing more access
and more supports to help them enroll,
to help them make the most of their ac, make the most
of their academic experience at city colleges
and to successfully move on
to the next step in their journey.
Next slide, please. During the pandemic, we were able
to invest Covid relief dollars
or her funds in critical student supports
that we knew our students needed.
The increased success
of our students over the last two years tells us
that these supports are working
and we are committed to preserving them
for students without the support of herf dollars.
In FY 24, our investment
of $13 million in enrollment management, admissions
and financial aid helps more Chicagoans access
and enroll in city colleges.
As we shared in our last presentation,
this investment has led
to significant enrollment increases across all colleges.
Our investment of $10 million in college advising has been a
critical component of our improved fall
to fall retention rates across all seven colleges.
6.7 million is part of our investment in young Chicagoans
and high schools across the city, which provides them
with free early college opportunities
and a team of caring adults
to help them explore college academic options,
navigate the college application process,
and enroll into city colleges.
6.1 million is invested in child development lab schools,
which provides early childhood education to the children
of city colleges, of the city college's community,
and provides our child development program students
with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience.
We have tripled our investment in mental health
supports since 2018.
In FY 24,
we've invested 5.6 million in enhanced on-campus mental
health supports, and in the expansion of services to evening
and weekends through a telehealth program.
3.3 million was invested in access centers
and supports to ensure that people
with disabilities have an equal opportunity
to enjoy all programs, services,
and activities at all of our seven colleges.
And the last investment I will mention here is our 2.8
investment, $2.8 million investment in in-person
and virtual TU tutoring services offered throughout the day,
evenings and on weekends so
that students can access these supports at any
of our colleges at the time
and in the way that best suits them and their schedules.
These are just a few of the critical annual invest annual
investments that we are making in our student success
and that we are committed to maintaining.
Maintaining the critical investments
that I just shared would require an additional 27.4 million
in total additional revenue
to support the need for additional revenue.
We are exploring a modest $7 per credit hour increase,
taking our per credit hour rate of $146 per credit hour
to 153 per credit hour.
It is important to note
that we are the only community college in the Chicagoland
area without a tuition increase in the last eight years.
For a student who is full-time taking 12 credits,
this $7 per credit hour increase amounts to $84 per semester
or 168 per year.
Our proposed increase would lead
to an estimated increase in revenue
of 12.4 million from FY 25 to FY 27.
As a result of our strong financial health as described
by CFO Rodriguez, we would be able
to use 15 million from our cash reserves for FY 25 to 27
to make up the difference
and maintain the investments in student supports.
Another option would be to not use cash reserves
and increase tuition by an additional $4 per credit hour.
However, we are not proposing this option at this time.
As you will soon hear from my colleague A BC Morrison.
The impact on students who are eligible for full Pell
and receive refunds will be marginal.
As Pell and MAP grants have increased by 76%
during the same time period
that City College's tuition has remained flat.
The proposal to increase
by $7 per credit hour will be shared with our Board
of trustees at our February 1st, 2024 meeting
and would take effect in April, 2024.
Students who register by June 30th will receive an early
registration discount at the current $146 per hour rate.
Students registering on July 1st or
after, would receive the new tuition rate of $153 per hour.
Here you can see what the tuition increase will look like
for all students, including non Chicago residents.
The proposed per credit hour rate for students out
of district is 403 for OUTTA state
and international students.
The new rate would be $505 per credit hour.
This chart illustrates
how our neighboring community colleges tuition rates compare
to ours and how city colleges is the only community college
in the area without a tuition increase since FY 16.
If you take a look at FY 18,
we had the highest tuition rate in the area,
and you can see that all surrounding colleges increased
their tuition rates for some multiple times between FY 18
and FY 24.
While City College's tuition remained flat,
as you can see from the FY 24 tuition rates,
our new proposed rate of $153 per credit hour would allow us
to remain competitive with the rates
of our surrounding institutions
and remain highly affordable for students.
Next, I will hand it off to my colleague Tiffany Morrison,
associate Vice Chancellor of Financial Aid and scholarships.
Before you go there, I got a question.
Can you go back to slide 16
through the chair?
Can we get a breakdown of how
that money was spent at each college
and how, can you tell me
how much you all received in Covid funds as a total?
Is that on there? I did I miss it?
No, it's not on there. Okay. It's 16.
How much we in total,
But chair, we can get you by, by college.
Um, and we can also get you full reports on the
Covid relief funds.
Okay. Um, we had been reporting them, uh,
to our board on a regular basis,
so we have a lot of that material already.
Um, and we had to do a closeout report Yeah.
To the federal government as well, correct?
Mm-Hmm. Did you want me to provide a summary
of the total funds we received, or, I'm sorry,
I didn't hear you. Can you?
Yes. No. Uh, we received a total $172,000,072 million
from Covid Relief Funds. You
Said $172,000,172 million total
$100 million was for the institutional use.
And $72 million was for student direct cash grants
that were dispersed through February of 2023.
You said a hundred million
for educational use. What was the other? The
77 70 2 million for direct student support, direct
Students.
And can we have a breakdown of that through the chair?
Yes, you may. Thank you. Questions from the committee?
Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Tiffany Morrison.
I'm the Associate Vice Chancellor of Financial Aid
and Scholarships here at City Colleges.
And I have been here for four years.
At City Colleges, students have been eligible
for more money in their pocket due to federal Pell Grant
and Illinois MAP grant increases,
whereas city colleges has not increased its tuition
since 2016.
Federal Pell
and State MAP grant allotments have increased significantly
since 2017, resulting in larger refunds
for financial aid eligible students.
As shown in this chart, this slide shows how increases
to MAP and PE over the years has had a positive impact on
our students and allowed them
to receive additional aid and refund checks.
This chart also illustrates that the marginal effect
of the proposed $7 per credit hour increase on
the student's refund check.
I would like to, uh, direct your attention
to the gold grass at the bottom.
The Gold Bar represents the tuition
charges at City Colleges.
As you can see, since 2017,
that tuition charge has remained unchanged at $3,504
for a full-time student for the academic year.
The blue bar represents
how much a student would receive if they were
to receive full Pell Grant.
The gray bar represents
what a student would receive if they were
to receive full Illinois MAP Grant.
The total at the top is the combined Pell
and MAP grant that a student will be eligible
to receive for full aid.
The Green Bar demonstrates the total, um, refund
that our students can potentially receive.
As you can see, since 2017, again,
our tuition charges have remained unchanged.
Whereas again, the Pell and MAP rent has increased.
From 2017, a refund for a student went from $4,129
to and 2024 $7,251.
This has allowed our students to utilize these funds
to cover life expenses.
Um, refunds of this magnitude are not normal
in higher education.
Um, additionally, at most institutions
and colleges, federal Pell Grant
and MAP grant is not enough to fully cover tuition charges.
So here at City Colleges, our students are able
to have their full tuition covered
and still receive funding
to help them with their life expenses.
One other point I would like to make on this slide is
that the minimal proposed,
or the minimal effect of the proposed tuition increase will
have on the student's refund.
In 2025, we're expecting a refund to go to $7,083.
That is a difference of $164 based off
of full-time enrollment.
And again, the proposed $7 tuition increase at this time.
It is a probability that the Federal Pell Grant may increase
for the 24 25 academic year as well.
And in doing so, this will increase the total number our
students will receive in a refund.
As you can see also, that our Pell increased from 27% since
2017, and our MAP grant increased over 85%.
A greater percentage of our students are receiving refunds.
As the data over the last, um,
four years shows in this table, the average refund
to students has increased by 38% or $736.
The average refund is based off our students
who are enrolled full-time.
As you can see, in fiscal year 20, about 42%
of our students received the average refund of $1,956.
Again, due to the increases of federal appeal
and state map over the last several years,
in fiscal year 23, almost 50%
of our students received a refund.
And that average refund amount was $2,692.
So again, we do see
that our students are receiving the funding to help them
and still receiving refunds
to help with their life expenses.
Um, in FY 25, the average refund amount
for full-time students, again, will be reduced to $168.
That would equate to $2,524 for our, uh, proposed students.
Consistent with previous data shown both Pell
and MAP continue to be the largest resource of tuition, um,
assistance for our students.
As you can see from this graph, 55%
of our students are receiving both Federal Pell Grant
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
and the Illinois MAP Grant Pell makes up more than half
of the resources available to our students.
13% of our students did receive funding from the Higher
Education Relief Fund.
Uh, please note that that fund has been depleted,
so we do not have that resource available.
In the upcoming year, 5%
of our students are receiving City College's Star
Scholarship grant, and 11%
of our students do receive funding from third party.
Uh, we do receive a variety
of third party payments from our students,
but some of the most, uh, used are CHA AON
and Department of Human Services.
We also give other waivers to our students.
$800,000 was provided to students in athletic waivers
and $400,000 was
provided to students in employee independent waivers.
And we also receive other grants such as the WEIE,
the Early Childhood Access in wea.
If there are any other questions, I will turn it over
to Vice Chancellor Jen Mason of Legis.
Jen Mason, vice Chancellor of Legislative Community Affairs.
I have a question. Can you tell me if the tuition
increase, how would you do it for students who, um,
receive Pell Grants versus parents who are paying out
of pocket or families that don't qualify for grants?
If students do not qualify
for a Title four federal grants,
then we do have other options such as scholarships
that are available to our students.
We do have students who are cash payers as well.
So they do have a variety outside
of the financial aid option
that comes from the federal government.
They can utilize scholarships, which CCC has a large list
of scholarships that our students are eligible for
To the chair. Can you send
that to us so that we send it out?
'cause I do give folks who call
and say they don't qualify, um, for any of the Pell Grants.
And while I understand the, the grants are going up, um,
we're going on up on tuition
and rightfully so, I'm concerned
about families who pay out of pocket.
I wouldn't qualify, my kids wouldn't qualify for a grant
because of the money I'm making.
So not the one I'm, I'm made to pay a little bit more.
Yeah, that's, they've got a little more,
but what about these families who don't have it?
And that's the thing. Out of the Pell Grants,
One of the things that we tell students is
Pell Grant is not the only grant.
We offer the Supplemental Educational Opportunity grant.
We also offer the Illinois MAP Grant
that has a higher threshold.
So whereas a student may not qualify for Pell Grant,
they may qualify for MAP grant.
And again, outside of that, there is institutional aid
that we offer to our students.
So we'll make sure to get that information over
to you. Thank
You.
I just, the last thing I will add is
that we have over the last three years had a practice of,
you know, at the end of the day, uh, uh,
paying off student debt.
If a student at the end
of the day just couldn't had a payment plan,
tried their best to, uh, honor the payment plan,
and they just couldn't pay the payment,
that's why you saw a student debt was zero.
We decided to, you know, make sure
that they've continued their education.
So as long as they're making an effort to stay current,
we'll make the effort to make sure that they continue on.
Okay. Hello, my name is Jen Mason.
I serve as the Vice Chancellor for Legislative
and Community Engagement for city Colleges.
And I've been at city colleges for six and a half years.
This slide lays out our tuition change timeline.
Um, all of our college presidents are socializing the
tuition proposal with their college communities focused on
students, faculty, and staff.
Colleges have held college-wide meetings, either in person
or virtually to review the plan.
The colleges have met in smaller groups
with faculty leadership, student leadership
and administrators, um, which vary slightly by college.
The provost has met with the district level faculty council,
which is comprised of elected
faculty leaders from all seven colleges.
The chancellor has met with district-wide, SGA, along
with our student trustee.
All reports from the chancellor
and Provost have resulted in a general understanding
of the value of this tuition increase.
As you heard from Executive Vice Chancellor Herrero,
on Thursday, we will take this to our board of trustees,
followed by rolling out our marketing plan website updates,
and our internal systems will be updated as well.
This spring begins priority registration for summer students
who register by June 30th will be charged at the discounted
rate, which will be the current rate
of a hundred and forty three forty $6.
And on July 1st, and after all,
after July 1st, all students will be charged the new rate.
Turn it over to Chair Taylor.
Thank you. Thank you all for the presentation.
Questions from committee members and non committee members.
You see there are none, chair woman McLay.
So the only I have, so
I received a question by text.
Um, is there any
conversation around going back to having, um,
all programming and all the city colleges?
So before we, I probably got into office,
you had every program, you didn't have to go to one.
So like nursing, we know Malcolm X has, the majority
of the nursing has really all,
and I wanna say all of Harvey does Aviation, am I correct?
Transportation. Okay. Transportation.
Is there any conversations with city colleges about, um,
adding every program back to, um, all of the city colleges
and what is what I, I I know the reason
for it being changed, it was budgetary.
Um, but what are the, I want us to, to know about the pros
and cons and how does it look financially for us to do that?
I know, of course, we're going on up to, on tuition now so
that we don't have this budget gap,
but thinking about how do we make sure that young people
who live on the south side don't have to travel
to a Malcolm X to a Truman
to get the programs that they want?
So, uh, I'm very happy to, you know, talk about this.
Uh, there, uh, there, they're, I have
to go back in time a little bit Okay.
To make sure that I explain this, you know, uh, very well.
Uh, historically, uh, we did have, uh, uh,
more, for instance,
nursing programs at our various colleges.
Uh, there was a plan under my predecessor's leadership
to do, uh, what you might call a full consolidation
that is create, you know, colleges that were, you know,
specialized in a certain area
and were the only colleges that would provide
that particular programming.
Um, you know, quite frankly, uh, the only area where
that was fully executed was in healthcare.
Uh, where there was a full consolidation of programs,
you know, to Malcolm X College, uh, you know,
in the other areas such as transportation, distribution
and logistics, which includes, for instance, automotive.
Right? As part of that, uh, you know, there, you know,
to be clear, there was a plan for consolidation.
Um, we did not under my tenure, follow through on that plan.
There's an automotive program at Truman.
There's still an automotive program at Truman.
There's an automotive program at Kennedy King.
There's still an automotive program
and there's an automotive program at, uh, olive Harvey.
In addition to that, uh, the same thing
for manufacturing and manufacturing.
There was an existing program at the Humboldt
Park Vocational Center.
There continues to be a program at
Humboldt Park in manufacturing.
We have just expanded the manufacturing program at, uh,
daily College, which all always had a manufacturing program.
Similarly, in early childhood education,
we have preserved all
of the early childhood education programs at all
of the colleges.
Um, and I could sort of go on program by program.
We, you, you know, many respects you can say, uh,
and I, one, i i, one notable one is, uh, you know,
there was a plan for information technology
to be at Wilber Wright College.
We have now made information technology at all colleges.
Okay? Um, now, uh, you know, I can go on in sort
of different areas, uh,
but generally our disposition is to try to create,
you know, as, uh, as many outlets as we can, you know, when,
uh, resources allow some, uh,
programs are very capital intensive.
So if you're gonna be doing, for instance,
you mentioned aviation that you know are, or,
or diesel, you know, uh, uh, mechanic training,
it's very capital intensive.
You're probably only gonna end up doing that in one,
maybe two spaces, right?
Mm-Hmm. Um, now, uh, that takes me to healthcare, right?
Uh, because I think, you know, healthcare is sort of the,
if you will, the elephant in the room.
It was fully consolidated.
We, um, we have since, you know, back a couple years ago,
started to move in the direction of opening up outlets.
We started that with the BNA program,
the basic nursing assistance program.
So we were able to, uh, you know, reestablish that,
if you will, at the Humboldt Park campus
where it used to live.
Uh, we were able to reestablish that at Olive Harvey,
where reestablishing that at Kennedy King as we speak.
Um, we are also in the process right now of
reestablishing the, uh, uh, nursing program,
full nursing program at Kennedy King College.
Kennedy King College did have a full nursing program at some
point in time, um,
and have within our plan
to look towards the North Northwest side.
At one point in time, uh, we had a nursing program,
both at Truman as well as at, uh,
Humboldt Park, a vocational center.
So we'll look north northwest in the future.
Right now, the focus is on expanding at Kenny King.
What will be different, um, then what existed
before in healthcare, uh, is
that these programs will be run, uh, by Malcolm X.
So they will be hosted, you know, by the local campus.
Uh, here I'm talking about the licensed practical nurse
and the, uh, registered nurse
and the, uh, associate degree in nursing programs.
Uh, the, the BNA, by the way, will be run
by the local colleges.
That's the first step.
But all the subsequent steps will be run by Malcolm X.
And I do want everyone
to know there's two primary reasons for that.
Okay? Um, one is quality and consistency of programming.
You know, we did have an issue at the district when we had
college programs at each of the colleges where the quality,
quite frankly, wasn't the same.
Um, and, uh, you know, we needed to solve for that,
number one, okay?
By having a singular college running a program, you know,
in, in a, in a consistent way, we will, uh,
we don't run into issues with the accrediting bodies.
Each one of these healthcare programs have a body
that oversee the accreditation that allows us just
to continue to operate.
Um, and we have some history as a district
where we ran into trouble with the accrediting problems.
We are nowhere near trouble.
We are right now at the highest level of performance,
and we wanna stay there.
And so, while we're opening up new outlets, Malcolm X,
and this also creates collaboration.
You've got one college executing a program
and collaboration with their sister college, right?
It's healthy rather than sort of, you know,
what happens generally with, you know, lots
of, uh, competition.
Um, so, uh, so, so we are, you know, uh, growing it.
And the second reason is financial.
Uh, each one of those healthcare programs require you
to have all of the, uh, proper staffing
with all the proper credentials.
So you can imagine in this healthcare market how hard it is
to hire people, you know, that, you know,
have the proper credentials
to teach in these healthcare fields.
And if I have to hire five or six, or three
or four rather than one administrator that can oversee
with other administrators, there is a, um, uh,
a cost savings, if you will.
So there's a quality and a cost savings that come
with the way we're handling healthcare.
But rest assured, we are looking at, you know, uh,
other outlets to grow our programs
because, um, as you, uh, pointed out, uh, chair Taylor,
you know, when we bring things in closer proximity to
where people can access them,
they access them more, you know?
And so, uh, we understand that
and we'll continue to work in that direction.
Last thing before we adjourn through the chair,
can you get us all the programmings
that happen at each college?
Yes. I think some of us have relationships
with our coll our colleges.
I'm close to mine. I don't think all our, all,
especially our new ones, have that relationship.
And we want to know what we're offering our elementary
and high school young people is to know
that they're college, um, in the city.
And so through the chair, can you send it that?
So we send it all out to every elected official
with no further business being before the committee.
Oh, I'm sorry. Chairwoman Coleman.
Thank you. Chairwoman Taylor. So proud of you.
Um, chancellor, I'm gonna be honest.
My faith in leadership at city colleges, sometimes I go in
and out with, um, you know, where we're at, specifically
with Kennedy King College, the number one community college
amongst city colleges in the state of Illinois,
and number seven in the nation right there in Inglewood.
What is the status of the McKenzie grant?
And who approves those dollars, uh,
for the investment of that school?
I'm sorry, I missed the, what grant
are you referring to? I
Believe it's the McKenzie. Oh,
The McKenzie Scott Grant. Mm-Hmm.
Yeah. So, um, when we receive, uh,
philanthropic resources, the McKenzie Scott Grant, we, uh,
resources either come in the, uh, from a government source
or from a private source.
When they come from a private source,
those dollars are routed to our foundation
because it is a 5 0 1 C3.
And so the college puts together a plan for the utilization,
um, of those funds.
I review the plan, that plan is presented
to the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation, right?
When the foundation approves the, you know, the, the, the,
uh, uh, the program plan, which includes, you know,
areas in which the college plans to spend
and utilize those resources, then the,
the college begins the process of spending
and utilizing those resources.
Those resources are transferred from the foundation
to the college, you know, as they are being utilized.
And so in the case of the McKenzie Scott Funds,
the president does have a full plan.
That plan has been reviewed
and approved by the foundation board
and is being, um, executed, you know, as we speak.
It will take multiple years
for the utilization of those funds.
But the full plan is in place.
It includes things like the Akia F Refresh,
uh, that is being done.
It includes things like, uh, uh,
comprehensive program review, looking at, uh, you know, all
of the different programs on the campus, uh,
and seeing where opportunities for growth
or opportunities for new program might exist.
Uh, and so certainly, um, you know, that, uh,
plan is available to you
or anyone else that's interested in. So
The dollars were given to Kennedy King College by way
of the foundation, correct?
Correct. What was the amount? The ten five million.
5 million. 5 million.
So that means $5 million is Aramark by way
of City College's Foundation for Kennedy King specifically?
That's correct. Of those $5 million, what have we spent?
Because it's been, what, four years?
Yeah, we could get that number too.
I don't have that number right in front of me,
but I can definitely get you a full report.
The foundation, you know, has that on a regular basis.
Okay. And does your procurement handle, uh, those
infant structure needs,
or even for the, the redoing the remodeling of Akia?
And I will hope that the swimming pool will now be fixed.
I know that there was a major plumbing issue.
Who handles procurement specifically vendors doing the work
for, you know, these dollars?
Yeah, so in the case of like the pool, uh,
that would be part of our capital plan.
Mm-Hmm. Uh, and you know, depending on the size of it, it,
it would, uh, you know, either require us to, you know,
put it in the, we have a regular capital budget
on an annual basis.
Right. Uh, when, when expenses get real high, you know,
we often look to external resources to help us.
I don't believe the pool would, uh, fall in that category.
But certainly, uh, we can get again, back to you about
what the plans are with the pool,
with the statuses with the pool.
Okay. Through the chair.
I like an update on the $5 million.
I wanna make sure that Kennedy King recedes every bit of
that $5 million.
And that the plan that president, um, Webb is working on
that it is presented to Inglewood five,
uh, specifically to us.
And I also wanna look at what vendors are being selected
because that is one of the few African American
community colleges that in all of Harvey.
And we wanna make sure that we have
African American representation.
And that's, that's, that's, that's a problem, chancellor,
because for us to be active alderman in that ward,
that plan was not shared with us.
That was not a conversation.
And what I would've liked to see was something
that President Thomas actually proposed to us
before he was gotten rid of, was to make sure
that they brought the community together, decide
how those funds were spent.
And so one of the acts of you all is
to ask this body to go advocate.
And I'm asking this body
to go advocate in Springfield with me.
So there is a give and take.
And the give and take is there, there needs
to be a conversation, even if the money comes from the
foundation, if it's for a Pacific College,
we should be at the table to help
decide how that money is spent.
Because that has been a big problem.
And, and, and at KKC, and we were excluded
before President Thomas, I'm just gonna be honest.
Before he left, we were included in everything.
That is not what we're kind of getting right now.
And I just, I just wanna say on the record she said it,
but I definitely agree with her.
There has to be some better communication between us
and there can be, we come in and say, we want TIFF dollars
and we want you all to advocate for money,
but then we're kept out of the plans.
So I appreciate that all the woman called me,
but there being no further business before the committee.
May we have a motion to adjourn?
So moved by Chairwoman Clay.
All those in favor hearing no objections to order.
The median on committee on education
and child development is now adjourned.