Pending approval by the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, Centralia College managed to form its 2011-12 budget and absorb an estimated $1.78 million in cuts without laying off large numbers of staff — however, students will now shoulder a burden themselves as they face a 12 percent tuition increase in 2012 and another in 2013.
The figures were given at the college’s final budget forum of the 2010-11 academic year Tuesday, as Vice President of Finance and Administration Steve Ward showed updated proposed figures officials expect SBCTC to approve when it comes out with its final budget July 1.
In the 2007-08 academic year, a student taking a full load of 15 credits would have paid $2,757 for his or her basic education. That number would balloon to $4,022 in 2013, according to numbers provided by the Centralia College financial aid office — an increase of $1,245 over five years alone.
“If you look at what is going on across the state with the budget, the monetary burden for a good portion of state services is being shifted to those who use that service,” Ward said after the forum. “For us, this is a trend we’ve seen as revenue sources decline. We have to cover the additional expenses, and now with the state budget, the hike was the best option.”
Some faculty members expressed concerns over the rate hike at the forum, with questions ranging from if the administration believed students would opt to attend other schools such as South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia or Lower Columbia College in Longview, to how the college would afford to replace aging infrastructure in the future. College counselor Paul Mitchell wondered aloud if the budget levels would decrease the college’s quality of instruction.
“Are these temporary measures such as overloading classes going to become the new norm?” Mitchell asked. “Are we looking at how this is affecting learning experiences or faculty experiences?”
“For the next two bienniums, yes, you can expect this to be the norm,” Ward replied. “I just hope that ‘norm’ doesn’t become deeper beyond this. ... I can’t tell you at this point in time whether quality is going down or not, but I can tell you workload and stress is up, and we’re sacrificing left and right to meet our mission.”
Ward added the college chose to raise tuition rather than lay off additional staff because administrators felt doing so had the possibility of decreasing the number of available classes or putting a larger number of students in classrooms.
“We’re definitely building more dependence on tuition dollars,” Ward said.
Centralia College President Jim Walton weighed in with the forum’s final word, saying he understands the financial burden students are now faced with, but believes the budget as proposed was the way to protect the quality of education students have said remains high, according to surveys and feedback.
“Our guiding principle is that our people are our most important asset,” Walton said. “Many other colleges chose staff reductions, but we knew we had to keep the quality of education for our students. It’s a risk we’re taking, but we think it is the best option going forward.”
The State Board of Community and Technical Colleges meets for two days beginning June 22, and Centralia College administrators believe their budget proposal will be approved during that meeting.
“I think they’ll realize this was the best scenario we could come up with, given the state budget,” Ward said. “We realize this is a huge burden to our students, but we’ll help however we can.”
Other highlights of Tuesday’s budget forum:
• The college will save $259,000 from a mandatory 3 percent pay cut that may be distributed evenly among each paycheck rather than one lump sum, Ward said. A TIAA/CREF retirement fund cap of 6 percent would save the college $156,000.
• The Centralia College Foundation will increase the amount of scholarship money raised, but Ward did not specify by how much. Centralia College does not offer student loans, but financial aid will continue to support “high-need” students as necessary, Ward said.
• Attrition and voluntary separations, as well as not filling two vacant faculty positions, saved the college a total of $334,276. Nearly $1 million in revenue was gained from tuition from college and Running Start students.
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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
