Northwest Arkansas Community College budget plan includes raises, no tuition hike

Dakota Johnson (left) and Emma Nilsson, both students from Bentonville, discuss Friday a service learning project they’re taking part in this semester in the library at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.
Dakota Johnson (left) and Emma Nilsson, both students from Bentonville, discuss Friday a service learning project they’re taking part in this semester in the library at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.

BENTONVILLE -- Revenue gains from enrollment increases and a more fruitful millage will allow Northwest Arkansas Community College to provide raises for employees and add some positions next school year.

"We have planned for across-the-board compensation increases," said Debi Buckley, vice president of finance and administration. "It's been a long time since we've been able to do that for staff."

Fee changes

Northwest Arkansas Community College’s board at its meeting last month approved fee changes for the 2017-18 academic year:

• The security fee was renamed the student health and safety fee. It will increase from $2 to $3 per credit hour.

• Course fees for the college’s culinary program will increase from $150 to $265 per course, though those students also will see lower costs for their textbooks, knife kits and other supplies.

• The $20 application fee will convert to a registration fee of $10 per semester.

Source: Staff Report

Buckley and Gulizar Baggson, director of budget and analytical services, presented their budget plan for fiscal 2018 to the Board of Trustees on Friday. The board is expected to vote on the budget later this spring. The fiscal year begins July 1.

There are no plans to increase tuition next year. Tuition at the college hasn't increased in four years, though some fees have.

The budget includes nearly $6.9 million revenue from the property tax, an increase of 9.6 percent from this year's budget. The millage is collected from residents of the Bentonville and Rogers school districts.

Administrators propose spending about $42.1 million, which would exceed this year's budget by 3.6 percent. It's still less than what the college spent four years ago.

The additional money would go toward a 3 percent average salary increase for full-time faculty, managers and classified staff members. Part-time faculty members would get an increase of $15 per credit hour for a total of $715 per credit hour they teach, Buckley said.

Full-time faculty have received "step" pay raises for four of the past five years. Step increases are 1 percent raises plus $300 or $400. Other staff members, however, have received only one raise -- a 1 percent increase in 2014 -- to their base salaries over that time, according to college officials.

Administrators plan to add 10 positions to the payroll, including English and science faculty members and a librarian. An accountant and a maintenance worker also are needed at Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food, the college's new culinary facility.

State money to the college will remain flat at $11.7 million, representing 28 percent of the college's revenue. Tuition and fees represent 50 percent of revenue.

Buckley and Baggson provided data showing state money the college receives is disproportionate to what most other two-year colleges get when enrollments are compared.

They pointed to Phillips Community College in Helena-West Helena, which this year received $10.4 million in state funding to serve students taking about 28,000 credit hours.

Northwest Arkansas Community College received slightly more at $11.7 million, but served students taking about 146,000 credit hours. As of Feb. 2 students were taking 149,505 hours. This year's budget was based on a projection of 141,933 hours.

"Although we sometimes think we need to be very careful about what we charge students and so forth, we have to understand where we fit in the big scheme of things and what we're doing with such limited resources compared to other colleges in the state," said Evelyn Jorgenson, Northwest Arkansas Community College's president.

The number of credit hours taken at the college reached an all-time high in 2011, but has declined 13.7 percent since then. The college has taken numerous measures to trim the budget in order to keep tuition rates down, officials said.

"We self-insured, which was a really big deal. We've saved about half a million per year there," Buckley said. "We have taken so many measures, looked under every nook and cranny to find savings."

Jorgenson said the college's budgeting strategy is to project expenses high and revenue low. Next year's budget is based on an assumption the number of credit hours taken will not increase from this year's total.

NW News on 04/08/2017

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