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Tuition hike a 'possibility'
The Advocate
The MHCC District board is considering a tuition increase as soon as winter term as the state’s budget struggles continue.
“Our ending fund balance is now below $900,000,” JoAnn Zahn, vice president of administrative services, said Wednesday “We have increased our efforts to inform people via the MHCC website, budget bulletins and by emailing employees. The college is not just crying wolf, as some have suggested, and a tuition increase may have to be a short-term bridge.”
After Wednesday’s district board meeting, Zahn said there is a “possibility” of a mid-year tuition increase, even though most increases have taken place in summer term at the beginning of a new fiscal year. But Zahn said the tuition increase has not been fully discussed yet. A proposal will be brought to the attention of the board prior to the December board meeting, she said.
“Our mindset has become ‘anticipate the worst, hope for the best,’” said Zahn. “We must start looking at freezing expenditures and we must remind leaders to be conservative. People are wondering why we keep saying there is trouble on the horizon, but we never get there. It’s because we react and make adjustments to make sure we have financial stability.”
Zahn said returning the college to its A1 bond rating is a top priority, as well as getting the ending fund balance up to 11 percent (the previous goal was 5 percent).
Zahn and Oregon Community College Association’s Executive Director Andrea Henderson, who addressed the board Wednesday, agree that the upcoming tax measures 66 and 67 will be key in determining the future of all Oregon community colleges. The measures will be voted on by Oregon residents in January.
“A critical piece in the puzzle right now in the state Legislature are the two ballot measures,” said Henderson. “We are looking at a state-wide cut of $24.9 million should the measures go down. This would affect the 2011-2013 biennium, and we want to plan for that possibility. We expect to have fourth week (enrollment) numbers any day, and our best guess is around a 20 percent increase in state-wide enrollment, so we must push that message to get community colleges the resources they need.”
Zahn said another issue compounding the MHCC budget woes is the likelihood that employee contributions to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) fund will increase significantly by July 2010. Currently, there is $1.2 million in the fund.
“Our biggest issues highlighted are the tax measures and our PERS concerns,” Zahn said. “President Ski (John Sygielski) and the rest of the cabinet are looking forward to putting together more public forums to get people informed about the problems we face.”
Associated Student Government President Bradley Best, who attended the meeting, said he and other ASG members would be pushing voter registration in the coming weeks to get people informed of the college’s current budget problems.
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