Community colleges are holding steady at funding levels, despite the nearly five percent increase in state spending.
Officials with the Commission on Community Colleges said their operating and capital funding levels remained the same as last year, receiving just over $300 million as part of the new state budget.
At Butler County Community College, they were allotted $11.4 million from the state—however officials budgeted a three percent increase for this year’s budget.
The commission said the lack of increase in funding could possibly result in cutting positions, programs, and having to increase tuition.
“Level funding for the community college sector will have a lasting economic impact,” Dr. Tuesday Stanley, president of the commission, said in a statement. “As a result, our colleges, students, and the communities we serve will be caught in the crosshairs. We will continue to do what our sector does best – focus on our students and the communities we serve. But the challenges for our colleges become greater without adequate state funding.”
