The Harford Community College Board of Trustees has approved a tuition increase of $5 per credit hour effective July 1, 2012, bringing the rate to $87 per credit hour for in-county residents. Despite the increase, tuition at the community college remains the lowest in the state, according to Nancy Dysard, HCC director for marketing and public relations.
Originally planned at $8 per credit hour but later scaled back to $5, the tuition increase is to make up for a portion of reductions in state and county funding over the past few years, said John Cox, HCC vice president for finance, operations and governmental relations.
Increased funding provided for during the 2012 Maryland General Assembly Special Session allowed for the lesser increase, Cox said, but an increase was necessary to maintain services in light of increased enrollment. “Harford has continued to remain a fiscally prudent institution with a focus on affordability,” Cox said, calling the community college “one of the best values in the nation.”
Enrollment figures posted on the HCC Web site show that enrollment has increased by nearly 1,000 students since 2009, to a total of 9,560 students in the fiscal year 2011. The figures include both full and part-time students. Tuition rates were last raised at HCC in 2010, according to Dysard, when the in-county rate went up by $5 to the current $82 per credit hour.
The new tuition rate for out-of-county residents will be $174 per credit hour; out-of-state residents will pay $261. Out- of-county and out-of-state residents pay double and triple the in-county rate, respectively.
Ah, so we will have a 6% increase this year and a 6.4% increase in 2010. That would be about about 3.1% per year. If only we could get the HCPS to live on that. And HCC has increasing enrollment. Not so at HCPS.
RIGHT ON MAN. Because community colleges and public schools are TOTALLY the same thing. Let’s merge them so we can get the benefits of the community college’s efficiency!