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By
Mike Ashmore
Raritan Valley Community
College has announced that it is increasing its tuition rates by $2 per
credit next spring following a similar increase for the fall semester.
At $68 per credit hour, tuition is up 6.25% since last spring.
But for those of you thinking that’s going to be the last you hear
of tuition increase, you may be mistaken. According to Raritan Valley
Community College President Jerry Ryan, we may not have seen the last
of them yet.
“I would think that the chances of a tuition increase in the fall
[of 2004] are really good,” said Ryan, “unless the state comes
to the plate and raises their aid.”
He continues, “The history here of the college has been when the
state has given us a significant bump, we didn’t have to raise tuition
because we would just use that money.”
With the state’s plans for funding yet to be determined, Ryan can
not rule out more increases, but was optimistic. “Last year was a
bad year for the state, but this year is looking a little brighter. Income
tax revenues are up, sales tax revenues are up and business tax revenues
are up. Whether they’re enough to close the budget gap, I guess only
the state treasurer knows.”
Ryan, who said that the decision on funding plans will come next month,
attributes the increases on the large jump in student enrollment and the
amount of expenses for adjunct instructors.
And how did they come to the amount needed per credit? “Two bucks
is really only two hundred thousand dollars,” answered Ryan. “We
factored in a little bit of the extra money that we were getting from
auxiliary services like school store sales, cafeteria sales. And we budgeted
what we thought our expenses for adjuncts were going to be at the end
of the year. And we budgeted the tuition that we were collecting and we
were about $200,000 short,” said Ryan.
So while you likely are unhappy with the rate increase, you now know why.
Don’t be surprised if you’re unhappy again next fall.
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