News
June 27, 2003
Contact: Lorna Sutton, Director of Communications, SBCTC, 360-704-4310
Community college tuition will increase by 7 percent this fall
OLYMPIA – Community college students will be paying an average of 7 percent more for their education this fall. For a student taking 15 credits, this means a tuition bill of about $714 per quarter, plus local fees.
The tuition increase was approved Thursday by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges during its meeting in Pasco. The Legislature gave the State Board the authority to increase tuition by up to 7 percent to make up for part of the budget cuts the colleges will experience in the next biennium.
Tuition for the academic year just completed was $661 per quarter. The 7 percent increase for 2003-04 comes on top of increases totaling more than 18 percent in the previous two years. The Legislature has authorized another 7 percent increase for 2004-05, but no action will be taken on that until next spring.
Technical colleges, which set tuition and fees locally, were authorized to increase their rates by no more than 7 percent for 2003-04.
The State Board also distributed operating and capital funds to the state’s 34 community and technical colleges. The operating funds totaled about $509 million for 2003-04. More than $380 million was distributed for improving facilities in 2003-05, a record level of capital investment responding to the increasing number of students pursuing higher education at two-year colleges.
In addition, board members re-elected Tom Koenninger of Vancouver to serve as chairman of the State Board for a third term.
# # #
Top of page