Tri-County Increases Tuition to Offset Anticipated Budget Cuts

CONTACT: DR. DON GARRISON, EXT. 1773

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 3, 2002

By Rebecca Eidson

PENDLETON -- At its meeting on Monday, December 2, 2002, Tri-County Technical College's Board approved a tuition increase, raising the cost of attending the College from $996 to $1,125 per semester for full-time students. The increase goes into effect for the Spring semester which begins January 8, 2003.

"I deeply regret the need to take this action," said Dr. Don Garrison, Tri-County's president for more than three decades. "However, we simply had no other choice. We are facing a near certain budget cut of five percent, and possibly another cut of two percent later this spring." Dr. Garrison pointed out these cuts equate to a loss of $670,000 for the current fiscal year.

"We can't wait for the ax to fall before raising tuition. Our spring semester starts early in January, and that's the only opportunity we have to collect tuition to offset budget cuts," he added.

Dr. Garrison pointed out that the budget situation probably won't improve before the next budget year, which begins July 1, 2003. "I don't believe these cuts will be restored to our FY 04 budget." He added that the College also will suffer the loss of $83,000 in non-recurring State funds during the next fiscal year, which equates to approximately 1% of the budget.

Dr. Garrison pointed out that State budget problems are nothing new to technical colleges. Tri-County Technical College started this fiscal year with 9.39% reduction in State funds, which caused the College to increase tuition from $850 to $996 for the past fall semester. Tri-County and the State Technical College System as a whole are funded at 47% of their Mission Resource Requirement (MRR). The MRR is the average amount of State funding received by similar institutions in the Southeast.

"What really hurts is that technical colleges are funded at a lower level of their MRR than the senior institutions in the State. There is a lack of parity in funding institutions of higher education in this state," Dr. Garrison added.

According to Dr. Garrison, the importance of MRR funding comes to light when examined on an FTE (full-time equivalency) basis. FTE funds are State dollars that each college receives to cover the instructional costs for one student, multiplied by the number of full-time equivalent students enrolled each year. "Our FTE funding from the State has dropped dramatically in the last three years," Dr. Garrison said. "Our net loss per FTE student over three years is $793.00 per student. That's a total shortfall in State funding of nearly $2.6 million during a three-year period. Something's got to give, or we can't cover our costs."

At the same time it is coping with State funding cuts, Tri-County is faced with increased enrollment. During the fall term, headcount enrollment increased nine percent, and the FTE increased 14%. "We have more students to serve, which translates into increased costs for instruction. At the same time, we're coping with dramatically reduced State funding which has continued to drop even in years when the State was enjoying economic prosperity," said Dr. Garrison.

"We are an open door institution charged with serving the people of Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties. We can't and won't cap our enrollment to manage these cuts," he added.

He went on to point out that the burden of higher tuition can be lessened if students take advantage of the many financial aid and scholarship opportunities that are available, including the lottery-funded tuition assistance program.

"Eligible full-time students can receive up to $792 in lottery scholarship funds," said Dr. Garrison. "That goes a long way in helping to cover the cost of tuition, and that's only one of many avenues for student aid. The first step is to apply for financial aid, and we are encouraging all of our current and prospective students to do so." Dr. Garrison noted that Tri-County already has awarded in excess of 6.8 million dollars in financial aid and scholarships this academic year, compared with last year's figure of just over four million.

"We'll do everything we can to ensure that this tuition increase doesn't prevent anyone from attending our College," Dr. Garrison emphasized. "Tri-County Technical College is still the best buy for your education dollar."

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