CCAC Copes With Proposed Cuts

At the Community College of Allegheny County, cuts to higher education included in Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget have forced officials to look for ways balance their books without jeopardizing the education students receive—or how much they pay for it.

Under Corbett’s budget proposal, community colleges such as CCAC would receive a 10 percent cut in funding from the state. And while state officials are still negotiating the budget, community colleges have little reason to believe their situation will improve, according to David Hoovler, executive assistant to the president at CCAC.

“The state-related universities and state-supported universities were originally facing a 50-percent cut,” Hoovler said. “It’s not looking terribly likely, in spite of our best efforts, that the 10-percent cut to community colleges is going to be reduced.”

If approved, the state budget would leave CCAC with receive roughly $3.5 million less funding for the 2011-12 academic year. Because of that, CCAC’s Board of Trustees on May 5 approved a $104.9 million budget for the 2011-12 year—approximately $1 million less than the current year’s budget. 

To make up the remaining shortfall, the school also implemented a hiring freeze for non-union workers, tapped a reserve fund for $1 million and rolled out a $2-per-credit tuition increase, bringing tuition for Allegheny County residents to $87.25 per credit.

Anecdotally, Hoovler said students seem to understand the need for a tuition increase, even if they don’t like it. He added that the reduced budget won’t affect the number or type of courses offered at CCAC campuses; most cuts came out of operating expenses in administrative offices.

“We’re looking at doing as much as possible to avoid any cuts to direct instruction, to the academic departments and things that directly affect our teaching in the classroom,” Hoovler said. “That is, after all, why we’re here.”

Considering the plight of state schools—Penn State University officials, for instance, have discussed closing branch campuses and imposing tuition hikes to account for the $182 million in state funding they would lose—CCAC has fared relatively well, Hoovler said.

“I don’t think that was ever a discussion for us, about whether we would have to close any facilities,” Hoovler said. “We will find a way to work through it. It’s not a dire situation...but it’s still significant.”

The Next Wave

With four campuses and six additional centers in the county, CCAC expects to enroll 65,000 students in the coming year, Hoovler said. That number represents an increase of about eight-tenths of a percent from 2010-2011.

But one way in which CCAC’s tuition revenue might be affected is if fewer high school students use its dual enrollment program to take college courses. 

Corbett’s proposed budget would eliminate funding that helps offset students’ dual enrollment costs at high schools, which now accounts for $6.9 million of the state budget.

“If school districts don’t have money from the state to be able to offer that to students, then we are likely to see a lot fewer students coming,” Hoovler said.

But Hoovler said it’s too early to speculate the degree to which those cuts would affect CCAC. Without state funding, students in dual enrollment programs pay the same tuition rate per credit as county residents enrolled in courses, plus additional fees for online courses or labs.

Future Unclear

According to Hoovler, student services at CCAC might be hampered by pending cuts to education at the federal level as well.

Federal lawmakers are discussing whether to reduce funding to Pell Grants, which are available to low-income students. The current maximum of $5,550 per year would be reduced to $4,705. 

Additionally, lawmakers have proposed cuts to Perkins Act funding, which Hoovler said would impact CCAC.

“That affects a number of the special services that we’re able to provide,” Hoovler said. “We have a good bit of programming that’s funded through that act—and the future of a lot of that funding is very uncertain.”

Without an economic turnaround, Hoovler said, CCAC would have to continue tapping its reserve fund, which totals approximately $6 million before deducting the $1 million earmarked for next year’s budget.

“This is using a significant portion of those reserves,” Hoovler said. “I think the hope is the economic situation will improve over the coming years and eventually we would be able to move back into building up that rainy day fund, rather than drawing on it.”

Hoovler stressed that while CCAC has done its best to minimize the effect state cuts will have on students, the specifics of the cuts are still uncertain. He declined to comment on which services might be affected by a cut to Perkins Act funding, for instance, until details become clearer.

“That’s still something that’s changing almost on a daily basis,” Hoovler said. “So we’ll just really need to keep an eye on it and see what winds up happening as we move forward.”