College rescinds tuition hike

The Austin Community College Board of Trustees rescinded the $2 general fee increase implemented over the summer at a Nov. 5 meeting, just in time for spring registration, following announcement that an agreement had been reached in the legislature to restore state appropriations cut by the governor's June 15 veto.

The college raised general fees by $2 per credit hour, out-of-district fees by $8 per credit hour, and cut $2 million across the district in July following the veto, which cost ACC $7.2 million in employee health benefits and nearly $400,000 in facilities funds for South Austin Campus. Community colleges across the state lost a total of $154 million.

The Board did not lower out-of-district fees. That increase was already in the works before the veto, according to ACC spokesperson Veronica Obregon.

Gov. Perry, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, and House Speaker Tom Craddick announced Oct. 23 that an agreement had been reached to allocate $99 million for health benefits, the development of an incentive funding program for community colleges, and a one-time payment of $55 million for the next fiscal year.

Leadership officers also agreed on the definition of proportionality to include only employees paid with state funds. Perry said in June regarding the veto that community colleges charged the state millions for employee health benefits - costs the governor said should be reserved for the local community.

The governor encountered a storm of negative publicity following the veto. ACC strongly criticized the governor in a response, calling the governor's statement on community colleges falsifying their appropriations request "flat wrong." "We are pleased with this state's decision to restore these crucial funds and look forward to removing the fee increase," said John Hernandez, chair of the ACC Board of Trustees.

The governor, lieutenant governor and speaker will appoint a task force to make recommendations on how incentive funds should be allocated, either through a combination of budget execution or other transfer authority before Sept. 1, 2008; shortly before the end of the 2008 fiscal year.

Incentive funds will be provided based on student outcomes such as increased graduation rates. Previously the funds were only available to four-year colleges.

"Community colleges are an integral part of our higher education system in Texas and, through incentive funding, we can begin to hold all our institutions of higher education accountable for the students they produce rather than just those they enroll," said Perry.

The foundation of the dispute lies with the Vietnam War, the number of young men who enrolled in order to escape the draft and the return of men into the public sphere. During the 1970s Texas established a community college system (ACC opened its doors in 1973) that divided funding between the state and the community - the state paying for instruction, and the college and community funding facilities and campus construction.

But the state hasn't kept up. A disproportionate amount of state funding goes to the university system, the University of Texas being the primary recipient. As a result, community colleges have raised taxes and hiked tuition to make up for the shortfalls.

With rapid development and population growth combined with benchmarks set up by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, such as graduating greater numbers of students from the rising immigrant population, colleges and their parent communities are pushing hard on the state not to ignore their schools.

"Community colleges are the backbone of our higher education system," said Lt. Governor Dewhurst. "That's why it was critical to me that we restore the vetoed funds and ensure higher education in Texas remains affordable and accessible to anyone who wants it, without putting any extra financial burden on students or taxpayers."

Although the conflict between the communities and state is surely not over, the decision to make back the funds has certainly cooled tensions with ACC's administration as the school prepares to launch another wave of expansion starting with the push to build a new campus in Round Rock.