NIC: Back-door tuition hike

I would personally like to thank North Idaho College for the 30 percent increase in my son’s tuition this semester. Going back to the article in The Press on May 25 regarding the NIC budget increase:

“There was no desire to look at property taxes,” said Mark Browning, NIC’s vice president of community relations. “From the (president’s) cabinet standpoint, that wasn’t even a discussion. We have needs but we’re very cognizant of where the local taxpayers are at.”

I feel so much better that Mr. Browning is cognizant of the local taxpayer but doesn’t care about the students or the parents that have to pay the bills. A 30 percent increase — really?

Oh, and trust me, I’m not for increasing taxes to pay, either. If there is a 5 percent decrease in enrollment, staffing and expenses should reflect the same reduction instead of figuring out ways of increasing the tuition.

I’m actually very surprised this hasn’t received more attention. Maybe others out there, like myself, really didn’t think about it until I went online to pay for the tuition and got sticker shock when I saw the bill.

I bet the NIC administration and board members still have their fingers crossed, hoping this whole thing will still fly under the radar and not much will be said about it.

We got the double whammy. Not only did NIC “RESTRUCTURE” the tuition but they also increased each credit by $5. That’s a $1.8 million increase in tuition with a 5 percent decrease in enrollment. Makes sense to me.

JIM KOLAR

Post Falls