by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Students at Florida State College at Jacksonville may be facing higher tuition and fees in the fall no matter what Tallahassee does with the budgets of the state’s higher education institutions.
However, those increases will be minimal and, according to FSCJ officials, the local college is still one of the best deals around.
Tuesday, the FSCJ board is expected to approve a budget of $194.2 million. Most of that comes from tuition and fees ($65.2 million) and the state ($80 million).
During Wednesday’s budget workshop with the school’s board of trustees, Vice President for Administrative Services Steven Bowers said the state’s portion of the school’s budget is in the hands of Gov. Charlie Crist.
“The Legislature approved a tuition and fee increase, but we don’t know if the governor is going to veto it,” said Bowers.
College President Steven Wallace said the deadline for Crist to make his decision is Friday and there hasn’t been any indication as to which way he’s leaning.
“We have not gotten any intelligence one way or the other,” said Wallace. “TaxWatch released its turkey list this week and not one turkey deals with higher education. We are desperate for good news, and that’s good news.”
After the legislative session each year, TaxWatch analyzes the bills that passed and produces its turkey list. That list contains legislation that doesn’t make sense, isn’t fiscally responsible in the eyes of TaxWatch, is filled with unnecessary pork or is deceiving. It also lists the bills’ sponsors.
According to the preliminary FSCJ budget, tuition will rise this fall 8 percent, rising from $67.60 a credit hour to $73 a credit hour. Other increases include the technology fee (from $3.38 a credit hour to $3.65), the financial aid fee ($3.38 to $3.65) and the capital improvement fee ($5.55 to $6.55).
Overall, it will cost $92.10 a credit hour or $2,762 a year for a student enrolled in 30 credit hours. Wallace said the school, which has an average class size of 22 students, is still one of the best values in the state, especially given the addition of several new bachelor’s degrees, its hybrid education program and its online classes.
“Our average class size has gone up, but we are still in very positive territory,” he said. “Our students still get a lot of personal attention.”
Over the past year, enrollment is up 19 percent and it’s up 32 percent over the past two years. During that time, Wallace said the school has managed to control its expenses by keeping the staffing levels relatively flat. While it has worked, the increase in enrollment has forced the school’s administration to look at increasing the staff in several areas.
“We are not going to continue to grow at 19 percent a year, but we are going to continue to grow,” said Wallace. “We have achieved unimaginable levels of efficiency, unattainable levels of efficiency. We can’t continue to serve the number of students we have with the current staff levels. Our employees deserve an extraordinary amount of credit. There is a definitive plan for staffing up the next three years.”
The school is also planning a 3 percent pay increase for current employees that includes faculty and staff. However, Bowers calls that raise “retractable” and contingent on the state’s economy, which is expected to recover at a slow, steady rate.
Bowers said if the state encounters “tough times,” that raise is “reversible.”
The administration also plans to place $12.2 million into reserves over the next two years, starting with the 2011-12 budget, in an effort to make up for the $6.1 million a year in federal stimulus money the school will no longer receive.
“When you lose $6.1 million, that’s quite a hole,” said Bowers, explaining the proposal is to fund that loss internally. “That will get us through the tough times.”
Wednesday’s budget workshop also provided a look beyond the 2010-11 budget. Wallace said the school had to look three years ahead and take into account projected state revenues. The packet the school’s board members received contained several scenarios to account for state funding and other increases.
“We built up our reserves the last several years for exactly this reason,” said Wallace. “Our three-year plan is more conservative and we expect a slow, incremental recovery.
“It’s better to have and not need than need and not have. It’s a very conservative plan, but we expect to exceed this plan.”
The board meets at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the administration building at the Downtown Campus. The budget is expected to be the primary item on the agenda. The meeting is open to the public.
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