Priscilla Bell, president of North Idaho College, is making her budget presentation to JFAC this morning, and her news is dramatic: Student enrollment, measured by total head count, has soared from about 3,500 when she started at the college in 2007, to some 6,700 this spring. “We've almost doubled our head-count in the four years I've been here,” Bell said. But at the same time, state funding for NIC has been dropping. Under the governor's proposed budget, “By fiscal year 2012 it will be at 2001 levels.” Because NIC is funded by local property taxes as well as student tuition and fees and state funds, the falling state support will impact both property taxes and student fees, on which, Bell said, “We have to rely more and more”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: How important is North Idaho College to you?