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RCC students likely to pay more 12.5 percent boost would ease budget trouble By SUSAN JAY Rogue Community College students may have to wring more cash from their wallets as another tuition increase is likely. The college board will discuss a proposal tonight to increase tuition by just over 18 percent, or from $38 to $45 per credit. The proposed increase is actually 12.5 percent, because students currently pay another $2 in fees per credit on top of the $38. All fees are included in the proposed $45 per credit. For a student taking 12 units, total tuition would rise by $60, from $480 to $540. Several factors contribute to the need for an increase, RCC officials say. They include the jump in enrollment in Jackson County, new facilities and a state funding formula that doesn't consider the capital expenses involved when a college district annexes another county. RCC officials estimate a $400,000 shortfall for the 1999-2000 school year, and also plan to discuss with the board RCC's preliminary $23 million budget. "The key issue is that expansion has not come with any capital money," said RCC President Harvey Bennett. After voters in Josephine and Jackson counties annexed Jackson County into the RCC district in May 1996, the college leased and remodeled five buildings in downtown Medford. "All of the leases we have and all of the equipment we purchased has had to come out of operations," Bennett said. "All the monies we've received, whether local tax or student money, are sufficient for programs, but we have no capital money," he said. More classroom space and teachers are still needed as enrollment in Jackson County continues to grow. In the 1998 fall semester, enrollment jumped by 50 percent in Jackson County. RCC now has an average of 4,300 full-time-equivalent students. Tuition is the only funding source the college can raise; the college has no control over state and local funding sources. RCC has increased tuition every year since the 1994-95 school year at an average of 7.5 percent a year. Each dollar of increase, Bennett said, raises approximately $100,000 from the student body. Some years, however, the percent of students who don't pay tuition can be as high as 30 percent, Bennett said. These students are usually low-income or are taking adult education and English as a second language classes. The increasing enrollment may help some, but not enough, when it comes to state funding. For Oregon's 17 community colleges, state funding is based on a three-year rolling average. RCC's funding for the next biennium will be based on enrollment in the 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 school years. The average from this period certainly won't reflect RCC's current situation. It includes the year before RCC moved into Jackson County, and one year when enrollment actually dropped in Josephine County. The college's board meets at 7 tonight in the boardroom on the Grants Pass campus. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA