CRYSTAL LAKE – Even as the largest secondary and elementary school districts in the county are bracing for enrollment to fall or remain flat, McHenry County College is anticipating steady growth year after year for at least the next decade.

MCC leaders and Wight & Company associates this week unveiled the cost estimates of the school’s long-range facility master plan. And MCC’s projected 3 percent annual rate of growth is one of the linchpins making the case
for the $640 million expansion four decades out.

Based on that rate, coupled with comparisons to other Illinois community colleges, MCC’s enrollment would rise from 4,100 to 5,500 full-time students in 10 years. The 10-year increase will require 574,000 square feet and 2,900 parking spaces – an estimated $280 million campus expansion.