Grand Rapids Community College President Charles Lepper remained on paid administrative leave March 17 and did not attend his second consecutive Board of Trustees meeting. During Monday’s meeting, acting president and current Vice President of Finance and Administration Lisa Freiburger announced an expected 2.4% tuition increase for the 2025-26 school year.
Ahead of the meeting, Chairperson of the Board Brandy Lovelady Mitchell said, “Before we get started with the agenda allow me to say this: Oftentimes at the dais, you will hear me say that I think this is a remarkable group of leaders who are very invested in our region and in particular GRCC. And I always talk about the diversity of thought and life experiences, but a way in which we were not diverse in thought in the past several weeks has been our unwavering commitment to GRCC…”
Following the meeting, Lovelady Mitchell declined to comment on Lepper’s absence, who was announced as a finalist in the Madison Area Technical College presidential search less than two weeks ago.
While serving as acting president, Freiburger presented a 2.4% tuition increase for the fall of 2025 that was subsequently approved by the board. For in-district students, the cost per contact hour will be raised from $124 to $127.
“We are proposing a representative percentage increase on all of our tuition rates across the board,” Freiburger said.
Additionally, the early childhood and preschool tuition rates will see a 3% increase.
According to Freibuerger, GRCC remains “below the state average” for the overall cost of tuition at a community college. Trustee Kenyatta Brame echoed this statement, saying that the college remains “right where we need to be” in terms of maintaining an affordable tuition cost.
Likewise, Erin Van Egmond, Vice President of College Advancement and Executive Director of the GRCC Foundation shared that at the time of the meeting, the foundation had awarded $1.1 million in scholarships to 1,400 students.
While the priority deadline for the Foundation scholarship applications has passed, Egmond encouraged students to apply, saying that scholarships are awarded year-round.
When compared to other 27 community colleges across the state, Egmond shared that as of 2023, GRCC ranks first in the fiscal amount of scholarships awarded to students.
“We awarded over $1.3 million (in 2023.) During the same year only three other schools awarded over $1 million,” Egmond said. “… All the other schools awarded $600,000 or less, so we’re pretty proud of those numbers.”
In other news, 21 recently tenured staff and faculty members were spotlighted by Provost Sheila Jones and Faculty Association President Mike Light during the meeting. Jones shared that these faculty members were described as “equity-focused, student-centered, enthusiastic, compassionate” and “responsive” among other positive attributes.
Light added that tenure matters at community colleges “in a different way than at four-year institutions because these folks have demonstrated a commitment to nurturing students (in) West Michigan.”
All purchases over $100,000 were approved during the board meeting as follows:
- Permission to issue a purchase order for an increase for fire alarm service, testing and central station monitoring. ($130,000)
- Permission to issue a purchase order for an increase for cleaning supplies, paper products, and repair of small machines. ($185,000)
Immediately following the general meeting, the board held a closed executive session to “further discuss an employee evaluation.” Executive Assistant to the President Amy Autsema Bennett did not reply immediately when asked if the evaluation was related to Lepper’s paid administrative leave.
The board will reconvene on Monday, May 19 at 4:15 p.m. in the board library for their final meeting of the 2024-2025 academic year.
