College of Lake County proposes residency policy revision

College of Lake County intends to tweak its policy on which students qualify for resident tuition fees by limiting it to people who live within the school’s taxing boundaries.

As it stands, CLC’s best resident tuition rates are afforded to students from Lake County’s 16 high school districts. Resident fees also apply to those living in homes that pay property taxes to CLC.

However, officials said, some students who graduate from high schools spilling over Lake County’s border don’t necessarily live in a home within CLC’s territory. For example, officials said, Fox Lake-based Grant High School’s boundaries cross Lake and McHenry counties.

Under a proposal briefly addressed at a meeting this week, only students who live within Lake County would be considered college district residents and receive the best prices on tuition.

That means a Grant graduate would have to live on the Lake County side of the school district to qualify for the fall resident rate of $93 per credit hour, as opposed to $240 for out-of-towners.

CLC’s vice president for educational affairs, Richard Haney, said the college doesn’t have many out-of-district pupils paying resident rates. He said the policy change is being pursued because more would-be students have been asking if they are in or out of Grayslake-based CLC’s boundaries.

Mortgage and lease documents would be accepted as proof of residency in the future, Haney said, along with driver’s licenses and state-issued identification cards.

“We’re using the actual tax rolls,” Haney said.

Board members need to vote in favor of the proposed policy revision for it to become official.