The Illinois Community College System consists of 39 public
community college districts, composed of 48
community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...
s and one multi-college center (East St. Louis Community College Center) where 3 of the community colleges offer additional classes. Thirty-seven of the districts have a single college; two districts (
City Colleges of Chicago
The City Colleges of Chicago is the public community college system of the Chicago area. Its colleges offer associate degrees, certificates, free courses for the GED, and free English as a second language (ESL) courses.
The City Colleges system ...
, comprising seven colleges, and
Illinois Eastern Community Colleges
The Illinois Eastern Community Colleges is a community college district headquartered in Olney, IL, with college campuses located in Olney, Fairfield, Robinson, and Mount Carmel.
Description
Illinois Eastern Community Colleges District #529 (IE ...
, comprising four colleges) are multicollege. Since July 1990, the entire state has been included within community college district boundaries.
History
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
has played a prominent role in the development of the community and
junior college
A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...
movement in the United States.
Joliet Junior College
Joliet Junior College (JJC) is a public community college in Joliet, Illinois. Founded in 1901, it was the first public community college founded in the United States.
In Spring 2014, the college enrolled 16,375 students. Every year, 48,000 stu ...
, established in 1901, was the first public junior college in the nation. It was the brain child of
William Rainey Harper
William Rainey Harper (July 24, 1856 – January 10, 1906) was an American academic leader, an accomplished semiticist, and Baptist clergyman. Harper helped to establish both the University of Chicago and Bradley University and served as the fi ...
, president of the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, and J. Stanley Brown, the superintendent of
Joliet Township High School
Joliet Central High School is a public secondary school located in Joliet, Illinois. Central is part of Joliet Township High Schools, along with Joliet West and Joliet East (now defunct). Before the opening of Joliet East and West, the school wa ...
. The college's initial enrollment was six students.
Brown and Harper's innovation was designed to serve students who desired to remain within the
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
and still pursue a
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
education. Within a few years, the concept had grown to include students outside the existing
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
. By December 1902, the board of trustees officially sanctioned the program and made post-high school courses available tuition-free. In 1916, the post-high school program was formally named "Joliet Junior College." The next year, the
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...
accredited the college, and the State Examining Board approved selected courses for
teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
certification
Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...
. Enrollment at the time numbered 82 students.
In 1931, Illinois adopted its first junior college legislation, which permitted the
Chicago Board of Education
The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools.
The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837.
The board is currently appointed solely by the mayor ...
to establish, manage, and provide for the maintenance of one junior college offering two years of
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
work beyond the
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
level as part of the
public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
system of the city.
The first Junior College Act became law on July 1, 1937, and provided for the development of the junior college system as a part of the public school system. That act neither provided for charging tuition nor specified that the education was to be provided without charge to the students. In 1943 the
Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...
enacted legislation to allow referendums to establish tax rates for both education and building funds to support junior college operations. In 1951 legislation was adopted which set forth standards and procedures for establishing junior colleges. This legislation also repealed the prior law which had allowed the board of education in districts with population in excess of 25,000 to establish a junior college by resolution. In 1959 separate junior college districts were authorized by allowing any compact and contiguous territory to be organized as a junior college district with an elected board of education with authority to maintain and operate the college and levy taxes for its operation.
State funding for junior college operations was first appropriated in 1955. Seven new public junior colleges were established in Illinois between 1955 and 1962, bringing the total to 18.
Rock Island,
Moline, and
East Moline joined to form
Black Hawk College
Black Hawk College is a public community college in Illinois with campuses in Moline and Galva.
History
Black Hawk College is a community college with campuses located in Moline and in Kewanee ( south of Kewanee). Founded in 1946 as Moline ...
in 1961, the first junior college created separate from a common school district.
In 1961, the General Assembly created the
Illinois Board of Higher Education The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) is a state government agency that oversees higher education in the U.S. state of Illinois. The IBHE was created in 1961. Since 2012 the IBHE also permits and oversees business schools and other vocatio ...
to conduct comprehensive studies on
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
needs; develop
information systems
An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, information storage, store, and information distribution, distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems a ...
; approve new units of instruction, research, or public service in all public
colleges and universities; review budgets of public colleges and universities, and make recommendations to the governor and General Assembly; approve capital improvements; conduct surveys and evaluation of higher education; and prepare "a master plan for the development, expansion, integration, coordination, and efficient utilization of the facilities, curricula, and standards of higher education in the areas of teaching, research, and public service." Although junior colleges were under the jurisdiction of the superintendent of public instruction at this time, the enabling legislation for the Illinois Board of Higher Education charged the board, in developing " a master plan of higher education" to "give consideration to the problems and attitudes of junior colleges...as they relate to the overall policies and problems of higher education."
Based upon the higher education master plan, the Junior College Act of 1965 was enacted, providing the foundation for the present system of public community colleges in Illinois. The act removed the junior colleges from the common school system and placed them under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. It provided for establishment of a system of locally initiated and administered comprehensive Class I junior college districts; required that all junior colleges operating in school districts where separate tax levies had been established for the college become separate junior colleges, classified as Class II districts and established procedures for converting Class II districts to Class I districts. School districts operating a junior college without a separate tax could continue to maintain the program as grades 13 and 14. The act allowed creation of junior college districts with locally elected boards. The local districts were coordinated and regulated by a new Illinois Junior College Board, which in turn reported to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, as did the governing boards of the other public colleges and universities. The act provided for local-state sharing of capital funding, acquisition of sites, operational funding, and annexations and disconnections of territory. State and local financial support for junior colleges became an obligation of all Illinois residents, whether they resided within the boundaries of a junior college district or not.
On July 15, 1965, the Junior College Act became effective; and on August 1 the school boards of districts operating junior colleges with separate educational and building rates became the boards of the newly constituted Class II districts. Also in August 1965 governor
Otto Kerner, Jr.
Otto Kerner Jr. (August 15, 1908 – May 9, 1976) was an American jurist and politician who served as the 33rd governor of Illinois from 1961 to 1968 and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circui ...
appointed nine members of the first Illinois Junior College Board.
In 1973, the term "junior college" was changed to "community college" by statute, but one college (Joliet Junior College) in the system has retained the term "junior" in its name.
Community college district numbers are given for each district. Some colleges were established by school districts prior to being organized as college districts. Two are no longer functional.
Governance
![Illinois Community College System southwest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Illinois_Community_College_System_southwest.jpg)
The Illinois community college system has a three-tier governance system. Each
community college district has a locally elected board of trustees, with the exception of
City Colleges of Chicago
The City Colleges of Chicago is the public community college system of the Chicago area. Its colleges offer associate degrees, certificates, free courses for the GED, and free English as a second language (ESL) courses.
The City Colleges system ...
, whose local board is appointed by the
mayor of Chicago
The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...
. The Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) is the state coordinating board for community colleges. The Illinois Board of Higher Education is the administrative agency with responsibility for overseeing all higher education in Illinois.
Illinois Community College Board
The ICCB consists of 11 members appointed by the
Illinois governor
The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...
, and one nonvoting member selected by the Student Advisory Committee. Board members are appointed at large for six-year terms. The chair is appointed by the governor and the vice chair is elected by board members. The ICCB meets six to eight times a year. The members of the board must be citizens and residents of the state of Illinois. Members of the board cannot receives a regular salary from public funds and cannot hold current membership on a school board or a board of trustees of a public or nonpublic college, university, or technical institute.
The role of the ICCB is to administer the Public Community College Act. Its duties and responsibilities include:
:* developing procedures to maximize freedom of transfer among community colleges and between community colleges and degree-granting institutions
:* conducting feasibility studies for new community colleges
:* approving all locally funded capital projects
:* determining standards for community colleges for instruction and teaching, curriculum, library, operation, maintenance, administration, and supervision
:* approving or disapproving new units of instruction, research, and public service
Illinois Board of Higher Education
The Illinois Board of Higher Education is the
administrative agency
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...
with responsibility for all higher education sectors in Illinois. As such, it approves the instructional programs, capital projects, and systemwide operating and capital budgets for the public community college system after action by the ICCB. In addition, the Illinois Board of Higher Education periodically reviews all existing programs at community colleges and universities and advises the appropriate board when such programs are not academically and economically justified.
Finance
Illinois community colleges receive funding from three major sources: local
property tax
A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
es, student
tuition
Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...
and fees, and state
appropriations. By
statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...
, each local community college board of trustees may set tuition rates for its indistrict
residents including variable rates for each of its programs, terms, time of enrollment, courses, delivery method, or other identifiable grouping of courses as long as the weighted average of the tuition for all credit courses including adult education is no more than 1/3 the college district's per capita cost.
The method of calculating the per capita cost is as prescribed in Section 6-2 of the Illinois Community College Act. Community colleges also receive revenue from a variety of other
federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
, state, and local sources. For example, the Illinois State Board of Education distributes grants for
adult education
Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...
and
vocational education
Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...
in support of specific instructional programs.
Programs
Illinois community colleges offer approximately 3,500
associate degrees
An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree.
The f ...
and
certificates in a variety of programs, including:
* the first two years of work toward a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
to prepare students to transfer to four-year colleges and universities
* remedial/developmental education for individuals needing basic education skills in order to seek employment or pursue further education
* occupational education from among 240 specialties for
employment
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
training
Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or Physical fitness, fitness that relate to specific practicality, useful Competence (human resources), competencies. Training has specific goals of improving on ...
or
retraining
Retraining or refresher training is the process of learning a new or the same old skill or trade for the same group of personnel. Retraining is required to be provided on a regular basis to avoid personnel obsolescence due to technological change ...
.
All programs offered within the community college system must be approved by the ICCB and Illinois Board of Higher Education on the basis of need, quality, and cost. Every community college evaluate each of its existing education programs and services on a five-year cycle to ensure that the programs continue to be justified on the basis of need, quality, and cost.
Transfer
degrees meet Illinois models for the specific programs and use a common general education core and numerous
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
-specific courses that are transferable to all public higher education institutions in the state. Occupational degrees are designed to meet the criteria for excellence established by the National Council for Occupational Education of the
American Association of Community Colleges The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), headquartered in the National Center for Higher Education building in Washington, D.C., is the primary advocacy organization for community colleges at the national level and works closely wit ...
.
Colleges
See also
*
List of community colleges#Illinois
References
External links
Illinois Community College Board— official web site
History of Joliet Junior College
{{authority control
Community College
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...