Henry Ford Community College will be increasing the cost of tuition in the near future. This will undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows and make a lot people unhappy. Nobody wants to pay more for school, as expensive as it already is. In an interview with Marjorie Swan, The Vice President/Controller, the reasons behind the tuition increase were revealed.
The tuition hike is associated with three separate revenues. The first reason is property tax has declined in recent years. Property tax doesn’t only affect homeowners and businesses. The college receives less money because the property doesn’t have a much value as it once did.
The second reason is state aid which hasn’t increased for community colleges in years. This can become a huge problem as things start to expand in the future. HFCC still receives the same aid as it did 1999 but serves about 40% more students. The third reason is tuition and fees. Enrollment has declined in recently at about 2% every year in the last few years. Without students there can be no revenue.
The board of trustee’s voted in February to increase tuition. When faced with this problem the board’s first action is to cut costs. They look strategically at the needs of the students first before anything else. The cuts made focus on having the least amount of impact on the quality of education. It’s a good way to balance the budget but unfortunately it wasn’t enough as revenue is still decreasing. Tuition increase is always looked at as an absolute last resort if nothing else can be done. It was with great reluctance that the board came to this decision. This increase will take effect spring semester of 2013.