As it prepares to start a new fiscal year, Black Hawk College will hold two public meetings about its new budget. Wednesday night and Thursday night, officials will present their spending plan, and answer questions.
Chief financial officer, Steve Frommelt, says a key part of the presentations will be the problems caused by Illinois' budget crisis, and the fact that there's been no regular appropriation for higher education for two years.
"There's been some stopgap measures over the last two years but those are not consistent, repetitive, and repeatable funding sources that you can plan and put together a long-term strategy towards."
He and Black Hawk president Bettie Truitt also plan to talk about their efforts to keep tuition affordable - in the fall it will increase just 2 dollars per credit hour, to 149 dollars.
They believe sometime soon Illinois will provide money for the college and others because of the importance of higher education to the economy.
Wednesday night's meeting will be held at the Community Education Center in Kewanee, with Thursday's at the Health Sciences Center in Moline. Both begin at 5:30.
