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Community College Tuition Rise Looming

Community College Tuition Rise Looming
10/26/2010
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Suada Kolovic

As state funding for higher education across the country continues to shrink, more community colleges are considering charging higher tuition rates for costly career and technology programs. This notion of charging differential tuition is definitely a new concept for community colleges and Pima Community College, in Tucson, Ariz., is exploring the idea after having its state appropriation cut by 30 percent in two years. Some of the college’s most popular programs, like nursing and avionics, would be among those charging a premium.

“It looks like we’ll have budget cuts for the foreseeable future,” said Roy Flores, the college’s chancellor. “I’m mindful of price elasticity and that some students might be shut out if the price goes too high.… But it’s a balancing act, and we’re a long way from shutting people out.” In 2009, the college’s enrollment grew by nearly 14 percent, with a high demand for occupational programs, such as those in the health sciences and engineering. And the reality is, these programs are more expensive due to low student-teacher ratios they must maintain and the expensive training equipment required.

It is interesting to note that in states like Arizona, where there is no state community college board or coordinator board for all of public higher education, individual institutions and community college districts can set their own tuition polices. So, while currently in-state tuition at Pima is $53 per credit hour, it may not be too long before there is an increase for in-demand workforce programs. Flores insisted, “We would just want to close up that gap a little bit. We have yet to do an analysis on this, but my… estimate would be that there would be somewhere between a 10 and 30 percent premium charged for these courses. And it would be phased in, of course, and not brought on all at once.”

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