SWIC’s tuition increase for next school year still below state average
Southwestern Illinois College will increase tuition beginning in the fall.
The board of trustees voted at its Wednesday meeting to raise both its in-district tuition and out-of-state tuition by $10 per credit hour. For in-district full-time students, this is a roughly 7% increase from the current tuition and basic fees.
Currently, SWIC’s tuition and basic fee cost is $4,320 per year for an in-district, full-time student taking 30 credit hours. With the next academic year’s increase, this figure will increase to $4,620.
Even with the tuition increase, SWIC’s new tuition and basic fee rates will be under the current statewide average, Illinois Community College Board data shows.
“We are very proud of this and are able to accomplish this with strong financial leadership and stewardship,” said Robert Tebbe, SWIC’s chief enrollment development and institutional planning officer, in a statement.
Over the past two tuition rate-setting cycles, SWIC has made larger increases compared to previous years. The current in-district, full-time tuition is approximately 9% more than the previous year, according to Illinois Community College Board data.
Still, SWIC has consistently had lower in-district tuition than other metro-east community colleges, data from the Illinois Community College Board shows.
Tebbe said SWIC does not anticipate such significant year-to-year increases in the future, and that these recent larger jumps are the result of traditionally keeping tuition and fee increases smaller from year to year.
Tebbe said tuition and fees collected next academic year will not be used to support the capital projects funded through bonds issued this summer. The bonds, totaling roughly $62 million, will primarily pay for a shooting facility for the college’s Police Academy in Belleville and a new building on the Red Bud campus that will house Perandoe and the Career Center of Southern Illinois.
The summer bonds are to be repaid through property taxes, as the board approved at its Aug. 20 meeting. Tebbe previously told the BND he expects the debt will be financed with little to no change in SWIC’s property tax rate.
Not all Illinois community colleges have set their tuition and fees for the 2026-27 academic year. In the metro-east, Kaskaskia College in Centralia has not yet approved its upcoming tuition and fees, according to board documents.
Earlier this month, the Lewis and Clark Community College approved increased tuition rates. The board approved an approximate 2.5% increase from the current academic year, which will make the total tuition and fees for an in-district student taking 30 credit hours at $4,980, board documents show.