Posted: Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:00 am
Community college tuition and fees have doubled in the last decade
By Mary Ann Albright
Gazette-Times reporter
Once capped at a dollar or two a year per credit, tuition and fee increases at Oregon's community colleges have risen significantly since the state recession hit in 2001.
At Linn-Benton Community College, for example, tuition and fees stayed between $36 and $39 per credit from 1996 to 2002. For the 2002-03 school year, the cost jumped to $50 per credit and has increased by anywhere from 5 to 12 percent each year since.
Students currently pay $65 per credit, and LBCC leaders want to give them a break by holding costs steady next year.
But if the 2007-09 budget proposed by the co-chairs of the state Joint Committee on Ways and Means is approved, that might not be possible, according to LBCC officials.
The Oregon Community College Association said it needed $529 million for the biennium to fully fund the state's 17 community colleges, which serve about 350,000 students.
The organization also requested $103 million for 14 construction projects, including renovating and expanding LBCC's science building.
In his recommended budget, Gov. Ted Kulongoski pegged $483 million for community colleges and an additional $87 million to fund 12 capital improvement endeavors.
The co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means recommended appropriating $458 million to community colleges - $25 million less than Gov. Kulongoski recommended and $71 million less than the Oregon Community College Association requested.
"We are trying very hard to construct a budget for next year that won't involve tuition increases," said Mike Holland, LBCC vice president for administrative and student affairs.
"Dramatic increases" during the past five years are taking a toll on enrollment, which has dropped by about 2 percent in the last two years, according to Holland.
LBCC receives a portion of the overall community college support fund for its operating budget. If the entire pie is just $458 million, LBCC's slice might not be enough to freeze tuition.
"We're hoping that we'll still be able to not increase tuition for the 2007-08 school year. With the governor's budget, that would have been possible. With the co-chairs' budget, it may not be," said Jim Huckestein, LBCC's director of fiscal and auxiliary services.
For capital improvements, the co-chairs' budget recommends that $6.2 million be appropriated.
That won't be enough to complete even the first on a long list of much-needed construction projects, according to Andrea Henderson, executive director of the Oregon Community College Association, which represents Oregon's publicly chartered community colleges.
The organization's top priority is building a new campus for the currently "unusable" Clatsop Community College in Astoria.
Seventh on the list of needed capital improvements is a facelift for the science and health facilities at LBCC. The Oregon Community College Association had pegged $3.75 million of the capital construction funds it hoped to receive for that project.
The Joint Committee on Ways and Means is holding meetings around the state to get feedback on its proposed budget. The Corvallis meeting will take place April 10. Eventually the budget will have to be passed by both the House and the Senate.
Student access to higher education is one issue explored in the Oregon Student Association's latest report, "Where Are We At and Where Are We Going? A Survey of Students and Campuses in Oregon."
The student advocacy group conducted more than 4,000 student surveys, at community colleges and each of the state's seven public universities, as well as interviews with faculty, staff and administrators.
According to the report, students are noticing less class availability and a higher student-to-faculty ratio. These factors are increasing the amount of time it takes them to earn their degrees, which in turn increases the costs and debt they incur.
Forty-three percent of university seniors and 40 percent of juniors said they couldn't get the classes they needed to graduate on time, the report noted. Sixteen percent of students at community colleges and universities said a lack of advising extended the time it took to earn their degrees.
"Oregon college students and their campuses are teetering on the edge," said Oregon Student Association Executive Director Melissa Unger in a news release. "A significant group of students are barely able to pay tuition and receive the services they need to graduate. And campuses have no more edges to trim."
In a letter to the editor that appeared in the March 29 issue of the Gazette-Times, LBCC student J.J. Quinlivan echoed these concerns.
"I am 36 years old and I've returned to college to get my degree," he wrote. "I am a full-time student and my wife works full time to support us. I am trying to get through school as quickly as possible, so I can get a job to support my family. Yet I find it impossible to get the classes I need because LBCC has had to cut so many classes due to budget cuts in recent years."
The governor's recommended appropriation for community colleges is the minimum needed to avoid tuition increases and the elimination of more classes, Quinlivan said.
Although it fails to meet operating budget and capital construction needs, there is a silver lining to the co-chairs' recommended budget, said Henderson of the community college association. The co-chairs' proposal allocates $47 million for the Shared Responsibility Model, in which students and their families contribute "a reasonable amount" to college tuition, with the state covering the balance for students who remain in good academic standing.
This is good news, but it creates an unbalanced budget, according to Henderson. More student financial aid does little if community colleges and four-year institutions can't afford to maintain their facilities and offer all the classes students need.
"To give them financial aid but not give them a classroom to go to is really an empty promise for our students," Henderson said.
Coming April 10: Public meeting
On April 10, members of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means will come to Corvallis to discuss the co-chairs' proposed budget. This is part of a series of community meetings the committee is holding across the state.
The public meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at Cheldelin Middle School, 987 N.E. Conifer Blvd.
The proposed budget allocates $458 million for Oregon's 17 community colleges for 2007-09. That's $25 million less than Gov. Ted Kulongoski recommended and $71 million less than the Oregon Community College Association requested.
Representatives of Linn-Benton Community College will attend, and public testimony will be heard. Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Jeff Merkley are expected to attend.
The impact of community college funding on student access and affordability is one of the topics explored in the Oregon Student Association's latest report, "Where Are We At and Where Are We Going? A Survey of Students and Campuses in Oregon." The report is available online at http://207.58.183.186/
images/uploads/pdf_uploads/report-for-site.pdf.
Mary Ann Albright covers higher education. She can be reached at maryann.albright@lee.net or 758-9518.