Governor says help for Community Colleges not likely in special session

Iowa’s Community Colleges will have tuition rates next fall that are among the highest in the country. Tuition will go up between five to 15-dollars per semester hour. Community college officials and Governor Tom Vilsack proposed different ways of making up the budget shortfall, but republican legislators didn’t enact either one. The state used to finance half of the cost of running the 15 area community colleges; local property owners paid 25 percent; and tuition made up the other 25 percent.Now, the state’s picking up 60 percent of the tab, local property taxes support about eight percent, and students’ tuition pays the rest. Governor Vilsack doesn’t expect lawmakers to agree to address the issue this summer when they return to Des Moines for a special session to deal with redistricting. Vilsack says he hasn’t ruled it out, but it doesn’t appear that legislators want to take on additional issues.One of Vilsack’s 1998 campaign promises was to make sure Community College tuition was affordable. He even suggested a freeze on tuition.