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Spring term tuition increase possible pending February legislative decisions
The Advocate
If the MHCC District board is going to increase tuition, it will most likely be for fall quarter 2010, according to JoAnn Zahn, vice president of administrative services.
“It is still possible that we have a discussion to increase tuition for spring term, but winter wouldn’t be plausible,” said Zahn on Monday. “We can still raise it, but it would require board action, and because registration is already open, it wouldn’t be something we’d want to do.”
The board has not had an in-depth discussion on a tuition increase, she said, and therefore a winter quarter increase is not a possibility. The idea may be discussed briefly during the Wednesday board meeting, Zahn said, but a specific presentation is not on the agenda.
Several years ago, the board set a schedule and dollar amount for tuition increases. A tuition increase in the coming year would replace the previously scheduled amount rather than add to it, Zahn said.
“Over the course of the last two years, it has been about $2.50 per credit,” Zahn said.
If there is to be a tuition increase, it will more than likely be announced well in advance of the term that it is affecting, said Zahn.
The option was brought up during the November district board meeting as a possible solution to the budget problems the college, and the rest of the state, is facing.
“There has been no real change (in the budget climate) since the November board meeting,” Zahn said. “We still need to reduce costs, and a lot of budget management work will be taking place, especially with a more clear picture of what will happen to the college if measures 66 and 67 do not pass.”
Measures 66 and 67, which have to do with taxation of citizens making $150,000 or more and businesses making $250,000 or more, would take more than $2.1 million from MHCC’s state support fund over the course of the 2009-2011 biennium. MHCC would be the fourth-most impacted community college in the state in terms of loss of dollars, and losses would total greater than $22.9 million statewide at a low-end projection, according to Zahn’s numbers.
“This would be the most likely scenario,” Zahn said of the $2.1 million loss. “We still face the possibility of losing more money, and we have those numbers because we need to be prepared for a worse scenario.”
At the highest predicted reduction, the college is looking at a $4.7 million loss of funds over the 2009-2011 biennium – or $45.8 million in state totals.
“The losses have mostly to do with how the legislative sessions in February turn out,” Zahn said.
Aside from a tuition increase, there have also been some discussion about a possible parking fee, and little mention about program review.
“We’ve made errors in the past where we’ve cut sections and lost revenue because of it,” said Zahn.
There will be a positive revenue impact in the short term due to the writing class credit hour increases. Starting fall term, writing classes will be four credit hours, rather than three.
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