The Tyler Junior College Board of Trustees approved the 2011-2012 budget that increases tuition and fees by 9 percent, increases the rate for residential halls by 6 percent, and includes new revenue for the Center for Earth Space Science Education.
The budget went into effect Sep.1.
The cost of tuition for an in-district student taking 12 hours last semester has gone up $120 and the price for an out-of-district student has gone up $116, this is excluding lab fees.
According to the data presented at the Board’s Aug. 25 meeting, the state failed to fund the 18.9 percent enrollment growth at TJC. With state cutbacks such as this, President of the Board of Trustees Clint Roxburgh, believes the new tighter budget is necessary.
“Well, it’s a tight budget this year, unfortu– nately, with the cutbacks in the state support,” said Roxburgh.
The data presented on the agenda also showed that enrollment is projected to decline by 5 percent. Certified data from appraisal dis– tricts shows valuations relatively flat, and the approved 2011 budget included the mandated 5 percent biennial cut, which equated to $1.5 million. Without the 5 percent cut, state appropriations would have shown a reduction of 3.78 percent.
Even with these changes affecting tuition and on-campus living, Roxburgh still believes the TJC students will not be too heavily impacted by the new budget.
“I don’t think they will see a lot of change, though,” said Roxburgh. “The fo– cus is still on a quality education and quality teaching.”
TJC sophomore and Health Studies major Randel Runnels may agree with Roxburgh.
“It won’t affect me. I just moved here from Lon Morris and it was like 10 times more expensive over there,” said Runnels. “Plus, I am on a scholarship.”
While the Board did ultimately vote on approving the budget, the process of creating it was a team effort.
“It starts with the administration, the department heads and such that make their requests for the budget,” said Roxburgh. “All of those go through meetings. Sarah Van Cleef is the chief financial officer and oversees all of that.”
After this has taken place, college officials begin to cut down some of the request. “Some of the initial requests are put in there and some of them are pared down, and they talk about what it is,” said Roxburgh. After this process was completed, TJC President Dr. Mike Metke, Van Cleef and Roxburgh reviewed the proposed budget and
presented it to the Board of Trustees. However, sophomore and Child Development major Shera Irving still has concerns about whether some students will be able to afford TJC because of the increases in tuition and fees, and room and board. “The more they raise prices, it depends on financial aid, and not all can pay out of pocket for tuition,” said Irving.
