Tuition increase blamed for declining enrollment

Mt. Hood’s district board of education and other financial officials have been working on the MHCC budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year. If approved, the currently proposed budget plan would institute a $3.50 per-credit hour tuition increase.

The tuition increase could be lower if state funding for Oregon’s community colleges exceeds $535 million for the 2015-17 budget cycle, however.

Mt. Hood President Debbie Derr said the main reason for seeking a tuition increase is declining student enrollment, which cuts into the school’s resources.

Oregon funds community colleges based on amount of credits taken yearly rather than the amount of students attending during the fiscal year, said Derr during an interview with The Advocate and during a meeting with ASMHCC’s (associated students of MHCC) executive cabinet.

The state counts how many full-time equivalent (FTE) students a college has. One FTE would be a student taking 12 credits; if 12 students are taking one credit each, that still counts as one FTE.

“Full-time equivalent is used to calculate instructor time for budgetary purposes, and the state looks at how many full-time equivalent units we are providing our students,” said MHCC board member Jim Zordich.

Jennifer DeMent, Mt. Hood’s chief financial officer, elaborated on the cost of instruction. “Three years ago, we had 27 students in every class; now we have 25,” she said, to use one example. “It still costs you the same to teach that class, but you’re getting that much less in revenue (with two fewer students)” she said.

While the total amount of students attending Mt. Hood remains relatively consistent, FTE levels have declined. “More students or basically the same number of students are taking fewer credits, so we’re serving the same number of students that we’ve served for a long time, but those students are taking fewer credit hours,” said Derr.

The Oregon Community Colleges Association (OCCA) has been working to get $650 million for the 17 community colleges in Oregon for 2015-17, said Derr. Oregon, which committed $465 million during the 2013-15 budget cycle, is currently ranked 47th in the nation for state funding for community colleges, with only three states getting less funding.

“The governor (Oregon Gov. Kate Brown) came out with a budget of $500 million,” said Derr. “We took the number that we understood from the Legislature, that they were most likely to support … and we built our budget on a $535 million” allocation for community colleges, she said.