Situation dismal, Parkland trustees are told - Tom Kacich, News-Gazette

State funding is down, enrollment is dropping, next year's proposed budget is more than $4 million in the red and Parkland College's cash balance is half of what it was a year ago. The community college got $1.8 million from the six-month, stopgap budget that state legislators approved last month, Parkland President Tom Ramage said. But that's $700,000 short of the $2.5 million the college is budgeting for state revenue this fiscal year — and the $2.5 million is half of what Parkland got in state funding two years ago, he said. "We're hoping for that $700,000, but it's only a hope, and we won't know anything until next January at the earliest," Ramage conceded. Fall's head count is projected to be down 7.9 percent, she said, down 8.6 percent in full-time equivalent enrollment. "And we're not alone in those deficits," she said. "Last week most of the other Illinois community colleges reported deficits of 3.3 percent to 12 percent." http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2016-07-20/situation-dismal-parkland-trustees-are-told.html