CRYSTAL LAKE – McHenry County College officials envision a major expansion that could reshape the county’s educational landscape, train generations of skilled workers for the region’s largest industries, and strengthen the local economy.

It also could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The college’s 40-year expansion plan, unveiled in April, comes with a $640 million price tag. That includes $278.5 million in the next decade. Figuring out how to foot that bill is just one of the challenges for the college.

As the institution aims to grow and reinvent itself, MCC officials face a changing marketplace in which more and more college classes are taught via the Internet, pressure from the White House to increase the number of college graduates, and lingering questions from the public about the path they have charted for the future.