FVCC Trustees approve tuition increase

Flathead Valley Community College trustees approved a tuition increase of about 9 percent Monday for full-time in-district students next fall.

Tuition for a full-time student will increase by $75 per semester to $869.50.

College President Jane Karas said Tuesday that inflation plus decreasing support from the state triggered the tuition increases of the last few years.

"We don't want to place the burden on the students," she said. "But you can contain costs only so much."

The increase of $5.35 per credit was slightly less than the amount requested by the college's budget committee. It was the amount recommended by Karas at the Monday meeting.

"I spent a lot of time looking at what we needed to continue the quality of service we give to students," Karas told trustees.

The $75 increase compares to an $85.40 per semester increase approved last year for full-time in-district students.

Out-of-district students will pay $125 more while out-of-state students will pay $310 more each semester for full-time tuition.

Trustees approved the budget committee's recommendation to raise the equipment fee by $2 per credit hour for students taking three credits or less. For students taking four credits or more, trustees approved a flat $3.25 increase.

Karas said college costs continue to increase each year. She said she based her recommendation on keeping "every single thing we need to do" but trimming items that could be considered optional.

She said she held student forums on the tuition issue in recent weeks.

"A number of students would like to not see the tuition go up at all," Karas said.

However, she said some understood the college faces increased costs of operation each year. Karas said one student called Flathead Valley Community College's tuition "a steal" compared to other institutions.

As a comparison, a full-time, resident, lower division student attending the University of Montana at Missoula will pay $1,735.20 per semester compared to $869.50 at Flathead Valley Community College.

Karas said the college offers financial assistance for students who can't afford the tuition and fee increase. She said the college can help nearly every student as long as he or she doesn't apply the day before classes begin.

Trustee Tom Harding compared the college's inflation problem to those of other public entities in the Flathead Valley.

"We had to charge a small amount so the larger entity, the college, can continue to do what it does very well," he said.

Responding to a question from Board Chairman Robert Nystuen, Karas said that the college expansion played no role in the recommended increase.

She also said that any reduction in funding from the Legislature would not impact the tuition proposed. Karas said the college had not yet built the expenditure side of the budget.

"We have the flexibility to change that," she said.

The board voted unanimously to approve the tuition and fee increase. Trustees Kathleen Young and Jeanne Tallman were absent.

Later in the meeting, Karas reported that a budget planning committee continues to meet, reviewing budget requests from various department of the college. She said departments submitted their requests after using a modified, zero-based approach.

Under this scenario, officials review historical line items and consider whether changing costs and needs demand realignment of expenditures.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com