APRIL 15,2015 • CLACKAMAS PRINT
Tuition grows, wallets shrink
Pull out your wallets and get ready to
Increase your projected student loan debt
again. The school board has approved a $3
tuition increase, raising it from $84 to $87
per credit for the 2015-2016 school year
by Cassidy Scott
Although the $90 million bond was
passed earlier this school year, Clacka
mas Community College must still make
tough decisions where funding is In
volved. The money received from the
bond cannot be used for. operational
projects for the college.
As CCC Board member Greg Chaimov
puts it, “The bond Is to build things, tui
tion Is to run things.”
However, that’s not to say that the
$90 million bond will not eventually re
flect changes In tuition.
“In the future, there was a sort of
a debt that we had to pay out of the
operating fund that really would have
kicked In around 2018. And that Is
now going to be refinanced through
the bond, so It won’t affect students In
2018 now,” said Jim Huckesteln, CCC
Vice President of College Services. “So It
does have some effect, but n o t to cur
rent students.”
Despite this fact, for students there
Is still a tuition Increase looming on the
horizon. Every year, the school board Is
tasked with evaluating tuition end de
ciding If any changes should be made.
This task is clearly easier said than
done. Student tuition Is one of three
places where CCC receives funding,
alongside property taxes and money
from the state legislature. And proper
ty taxes cannot always be a definitive
source of funding.
“Under the [Oregon] Constitution,
those taxes can’t go up more than 3
percent a year,” Chaimov wrote In an
email. “In tough economic times, real
property revenues may even go down.”
It’s all a balancing act.
This year, as part of the tuition In
crease decision, the board had to look
at their projected budget which they
map out four years at a time. At this
point, the board Is preparing the bud
get under a roof of $500 million that
the state is planning for all community
colleges In Oregon.
“When we build our budget we ...
try to predict revenues and expendi
tures, and see if we’re on track to keep
them relatively In line,” Huckesteln said.
“In order to do that at $500 million,
and then assuming some Increases In
state support over that time period and
looking at all our expenditure trends, it
looked like we needed about a $3 (per
credit) increase In tuition over the next
four years.”
“When my
husband went
here, it was
$18 a credit.” .
^Jennifer Sumner
But because tuition Increases are in
large part due to funding (or lack there
of) from the state, predictions about
future Increases are merely that — pre
dictions.
“Right now, we’re assuming that
we’re going to do $3 next year. If the
legislature does come through ... If
there’s not a lot more money, they’ll
leave the $3 tuition alone,” said Huck
esteln. “(The board) probably will not
have to raise tuition $3 In the future,
because we planned at $500 million
level ... If they (the state) gives us a lot
more money. There’s a possibility we
can rescind this year’s tuition increase.”
“We work hard to keep costs under
control, but, like with tw o of our fund
ing sources, there are parts of that part
of the equation we can’t control,” Chai
mov wrote In an email.
To achieve some control, board
members spend time talking to the leg
islature about receiving more funding.
This Includes time spent in Salem and
being In communication with the state
legislature.
Howeverjn the end, tuition Increases
(especially for community colleges that
depend on the state for money) can
be necessary. But this doesn’t mean It
can’t be a hard fact to swallow.
“It doesn’t seem fair,” said Rachel
Miller, CCC student.
Tuition Increases can be tough for
board members as well: “All of us are
unhappy about doing It,” Chaimov said.
Despite this unhappiness at raising
tuition now, tuition Increases at CCC
have been a reality for decades.
“When my husband went here, (25
years ago) It was $18 a credit,” said Jen
nifer Sumner, mother of a CCC student.
But In those days, the college w as'
heavily supported by the state, which
provided much of the college’s funding.
Now, more and more of the necessary
funding to keep the college operational
comes from student’s pockets.
So for now and In the distant future,
CCC students will have no choice but to
watch and try to stay afloat as tuition
Is tossed around In the ever-changing
balancing act between state funding
and the health of the American econ
omy.
Student Profile:
David Stone
Age: 19
Time at CCC: Third term
CCC Program: Accumulating
credits to transfer into
Oregon State University.
Major: Engineering
Credits enrolled to date: 50
Tuition total: $4,200
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