Schenectady County Community College’s $22 million adopted 2008-2009 budget includes an expected $140 tuition increase for full-time students that would go into effect this fall.
At it’s meeting on Monday, June 16, the college’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the proposed budget, which increases tuition for county residents from $2,890 to $3,030 per year, and part-time tuition from $117 to $126 per credit hour. The total budget represents a 3.7 percent increase from the current 2007-2008 budget.
SCCC President Gabe Basil called the tuition raise a significant increase for students. He also said it was a bit higher than other community college’s around the state.
Basil said the tuition increase was necessary because the college’s expenses have increased at a time when state aid has not.
Still, the college has one of the lowest tuition rates of state community colleges, which Basil said could help SCCC garner a waiver from the state.
`Our (4.8 percent tuition) increase is a bit higher than the state guideline of 3.7 percent,` said Basil.
Salaries and benefits also increased. Salaries increased by $374,035, or 3.2 percent, and health insurance benefits increased by $400,000.
In addition, SCCC’s student activity fee increased from $50 to $52 for full-time students and from $2 to $3 per credit hour for part-time students.
Basil submitted the budget to Schenectady County on Tuesday, June 17, for review. The County Legislature is expected to hold a public hearing on the budget in July and will likely vote on the budget in August. Then the budget will be sent to the State University of New York for further approval.
The adopted budget is contingent on an additional $120,000 in county funding. SCCC is asking the county to increase its funding from $1,918,694 to $2,039,684.
Basil said the additional $120,000 funding would slow down the use of the college’s fund balance.
The adopted budget uses $300,000 of the college’s fund balance, leaving it with $1.3 million. Basil said he is uncomfortable with continuing to dip into the surplus in order to balance the budget.
County Legislator Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, who serves as the Legislature’s liaison with the board of trustees, said the Legislature has not yet discussed the increase.
`It’s certainly in the college’s purview to ask,` said Hughes.
Hughes, though, compared the county’s own economy with that of the college. He said that like SCCC, the county’s surplus is diminishing because the state has increased mandates without increasing its funding in Schenectady County.
Hughes said that as a trustee, he supports the increase, but he said he could not speak for the entire County Legislature.
The tuition increase comes at a time when SCCC’s admissions numbers are increasing. According to Basil, applications for the fall term increased by 16 percent this year to 1,673. Part-time applications also increased by 5 percent to 230.“