To Fee or Not To Fee
As cost of lab supplies and materials increase, so will fees

By Roy Warner · The Mainstream
Published February 23, 2010

Next year’s tuition and fees may go up but will likely be lower than the $2 per credit increase students received for the 2009-10 school year, according to Vice President Bev Brandt.

Last year the UCC school board was originally asked to increase tuition by $3, which they voted against, before increasing the tuition by $2.

“I do anticipate asking for another tuition increase that would take effect next fall, but I would only ask for $1,” says Brandt who indicated that she is still deciding. “I will not tell you that’s a ‘for sure,’ but that’s probably what I will take to the board.”

Brandt pointed out that part of the reason for the projected increase is that “costs go up and we need to be prepared for those costs.”

Increases are being considered now to meet the March deadline for the 2010-11 budget. Brandt explains the importance of setting a budget now will accurately anticipate next year’s needs. “Once a budget is set we can’t redo it; that’s why we carry a reserve/contingency [fund].”

The contingency fund is used to pay for extra expenses; this year it was accessed to cover the payroll and other expenses that the college incurred when adding more class sections to meet enrollment needs.

Brandt explains that tuition alone does not cover the cost of educating a student. The actual cost to educate a full time student for a year taking 12 credits is about $5000, a figure which tuition does not meet.

“We get $3485 per FTE on top of [tuition],” she says. FTE, or Full time Equivalent, is part of the state’s formula to reimburse community colleges to cover part of the cost of educating its citizens. Every twelve credits of enrollment is equal to one full-time student for the purpose of this reimbursement.

This state reimbursement is averaged out over three years, so the $3485 per FTE was not immediately available to pay for the increased costs of educating this year’s larger student body. “If we enroll more students, we don’t get more money than what they [the state] allotted to us,” Brandt says. “So right now, everyone we took above that gross number, that’s all we have from you is the tuition; that’s it.”

Since each year’s budget is based on enrollment projections as well as costs, part of Brandt’s budget-planning work now is to predict next year’s enrollment. (This year’s budget was based on last year’s enrollment predictions.)

“We are pretty good at knowing what [enrollment] is going to be. [The current increase] is just an anomaly because of the economy. When the economy takes such a hit as it has now, our enrollment is up record high. It has never been like this in the history of Oregon in any community college,” says Brandt.

Departments are now working on recommendations for fee increases which will be taken to UCC’s Board of Directors for their approval in March. Increases in costs for supplies used in a class or lab will determine any increases in fees.

“A recommendation to increase the science fee by $5 will be made to cover the cost of replacing some of the well-used lab equipment and taking additional field trips, which hasn’t been done in some time,” said UCC Chemistry Instructor and Department Chair Eileen Parrack.

Brandt warns, “This budget doesn’t look like it is going to have any new money at all. We know we are not going to get any more money from the state because we get our budget from them for two years at a time, and we got that last year.” She adds, “If people want something new, we told them look at what you can cut that was old. So maybe there will be some trade-offs in this budget. It doesn’t mean there won’t be something new in this budget, but it means we might have to give up something to get something.”

In spite of the warning, Brandt promises, “We are going to be able to serve all of our students that are coming to the door. We aren’t turning away students at Umpqua Community College. We are looking at some rental facilities right now off campus to see if we can get a little more space because we know we are crammed to the gills here, but we’re still trying to make it a real good experience for you.”

Even with a $1 increase in tuition Klamath Community College and Umpqua are the lowest in the state. Although “our fees are about the same, we are pretty average on fees.” According to Brandt, “Our goal here is just to make sure our students get the best education and we have good faculty and we have people that are trying to accommodate you and we know that it’s tough when there are more bodies on campus but we are really trying.”