During the Oct. Board of Trustees meeting, the board reviewed the 2024 audit and received updates on many campus happenings, including the current state of diversity within the student body as enrollment continues to increase.
Plant Morane representative Brian Greko presented the yearly audit of the college, done by the accounting firm Plant Morane.
According to Greko, GRCC has seen a 10% increase in deferred outflow dollars and a 30% decrease in deferred inflow dollars. Additionally, of the $34.3 million received by GRCC in federal aid a total of $26.1 million reportedly went toward student financial aid.
Lisa Freiburger, Vice President for Finance and Administration, explained in an email to The Collegiate “deferred inflows and deferred outflows are both related to the accounting for the State pension system and reference an addition to or a use of net position that applies to a future period.”
Freiburger mentioned during her report that due to an increase in summer and fall enrollment GRCC has more tuition revenue than they originally budgeted for. To account for these changes, Freiburger said she will be presenting a budget amendment to the board during the November meeting.
As enrollment continues to increase on campus, trustee Kenyatta Brame inquired about how this has affected the make-up of the student body.
“Over the last three semesters (or) four semesters, we’ve been consistent in seeing around 11-12% increase in our African American and Hispanic student population,” said GRCC President Charles Lepper. “That number keeps growing for us. We’ve seen that grow particularly for the Hispanic community more significantly at the Lakeshore than we have here at Grand Rapids.”
Lepper explained that there has also been a small increase in full-time students, saying that he believes that increase is “driven by instate programs that require you to be full-time.” Furthermore, he mentioned that total enrollment numbers are up 25% at the Lakeshore campus.
The diversity of the student body was echoed in the faculty update presented by Faculty Association President and Professor Mike Light.
“Not only are they more diverse, but they’re more digitally literate,” said Light. “They tend to be more marginalized than even 10 years ago. They’re demanding greater flexibility in terms of services and core structures, and there’s more pressure on them.”
When asked to elaborate on the student body being “more marginalized,” Light shared personal observations from his time as a history professor, saying that he sees the amount of students who utilize the food pantry increase each year.
“My own students in particular, it’s a much more precarious situation that they’re able to stay in higher education when there’s the pressure of students having to go out and find a job,” said Light.
Lepper was asked if there is a gap between student students’ needs and what the college is providing at the campus food pantry, to which he instantly replied, “Yes.”
“We have more demand than we have resources for,” said Lepper. “… It is just imperative that we continue to encourage our students, encourage members in our community, to complete that FAFSA, because we’re leaving money on the table by not doing that.”
It was noted that students who complete the FAFSA, and are Pell Eligible and qualify for the Michigan Community College Guarantee can get another $1,000 in aid from the state to help with the cost of living. Promise zone students can also receive $500 per semester that can be put toward purchasing food on campus.
During the president’s report, Lepper mentioned that the food pantry had received a $125,000 grant in addition to an endowment mentioned by Vice President of College Advancement and Executive Director of the GRCC Foundation Erin Van Egmond.
Freiburger stated that “The Foundation has allocated $1 million to establish an endowment that generates approximately $50,000 annually for the student food pantry and emergency grants. These funds were made possible through an estate gift received by the Foundation.”
Egmond also mentioned that a total of $1.2 million in scholarships were awarded to over 1,000 students, which is an increase from the $952,000 that had been given to 897 students at this time last year.
Additionally, Director of Grant Development, Lisa Dopke, reported that the college brought in a total of $17.4 million of grants since July 1, 2023.
In other news, all purchases over $100,000 were approved as seen below.
Chairwoman Brandy Lovelady Mithchell and trustee Kathleen Bruinsma also provided an update regarding listening sessions that were discussed in last month’s executive session. At this time, the board is planning to hold six listening sessions during the first week of December with representatives “from each of the four collective bargaining groups on campus, the Alliance of Professional Support Staff, the SEVA, the POLC and the Faculty Association” according to Bruinsma.
The Board of Trustees will meet again on Monday, Nov. 18 at 4:15 p.m. in the board library.
