By Kathryn Kelman/editor-in-chief
A $5-per-credit-hour tuition increase will start next spring as part of the 2018-19 budget approved by the board of trustees at its Aug. 16 meeting.
Board member Conrad Heede noted that despite the increase, TCC is still conservative when it comes to tuition rates.
“We’re still No. 8 of the top 10 community colleges in the state of Texas,” he said.
TCC students had mixed reactions to the news. NW student Enoch Kasongo said he is against the change.
“I personally think the tuition rate should not be increased and I think that it should remain the same because most people cannot afford tuition, so I think it’s good to benefit them,” he said.
TR student Sisam Sapqota said he won’t be affected by the increase but worries for the students that will be.
“It is too much,” he said.
Some students, like TR student Shandreka Henderson, are more concerned by the change taking place in the middle of the academic year.
“I think it should change next year because there are students that are already here that have their classes and have their set pay already ready for the year,” she said.
The increase has the potential to affect a lot of TCC students, both current and future, according to South student Bridgit Wekesa.
“Some students, the reasons why they come to TCC or whatever is because they don’t want to pay a lot for school,” she said. “When they start increasing stuff, kids have to start worrying, ‘I can’t afford this class or whatever.’”
However, financial strain isn’t the only reason some students are concerned about the increase. South student Kevin Lara said the students haven’t heard much about the change.
“It’s concerning that we don’t know much about it,” he said.
Lara said he believes that there is the potential for people to get “screwed over” if they don’t have the resources or money to pay for the tuition increase immediately.
On the other hand, NE student Belle Trevino said she doesn’t think the increase is too bad.
“It’s not like they’re doing it by $10,” she said. “$5 isn’t too bad for me. It’s still cheaper than a university.”
TR student Marcos Santos also doesn’t think the increase is bad, especially when compared to universities.
“I think that what we pay now is good, but if it increases it will probably go to something for education,” he said. “Paying $200 per class is affordable.”
NE student and Phi Theta Kappa secretary Taylor Kenda said he is fine with the tuition increase, so long as some changes come with it.
“The way that I see it is they can add the tuition but they need to accommodate it with something else like fix the facilities or something like that,” he said.
Kenda also suggested maybe the college could make Scantrons free or offer more discounts for books and access codes for online textbooks.
With the increase in tuition, the operating budget expects to see an increase of $3.56 million in revenue this year.
TCC’s total operating budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year amounts to $444.2 million with $375 million going toward maintenance and operation of the college, $40 million going toward renewal and replacements around the district, $22 million being allocated to the college’s building fund and $6 million for auxiliary enterprises.
The college will increase salary and benefits for full-time employees by 2.5 percent and give them a one-time only $1,000 bonus for the 2018-19 academic year. Part-time, on-call, adjunct and faculty overload rates will increase by 4 percent.
The increase will also give the college the ability to hire 22 new faculty members and 12 new non-faculty members.
Following the approval of the budget, board president Louise Appleman thanked all who were a part of the process.
“We know it was extra time and trouble, but I think it’s a good budget and one we can be proud of,” she said.
