Tuition At BCCC Going Up This Fall

Students attending will pay nearly eight percent more to attend starting this fall. 

The Bucks County Community College’s Board of Trustees today approved a tuition increase of $6 per credit for county residents. In addition, the technology fee will increase by $5 a credit.

Beginning in the fall semester, tuition for county residents will increase from $111 to $117 a credit. Out-of-county residents will pay $234, up from $222. Tuition for out-of-state residents will go from $333 to $351. The technology support fee will increase by $5 from $30 a credit to $35 a credit.  

The increases mean that a student taking 12 credits a semester will pay $3,648 for 24 credits (including tuition and technology fee) during the 2012-13 academic year. That’s an increase of $264 from this year.

College President Dr. James Linksz said state cuts to higher education are impacting the budget at BCCC.  The college is currently awaiting the final word from the state legislature regarding funding for 2012-13.  President Linksz recently joined other college presidents appearing before the House Appropriations Committee in Harrisburg to request an increase in state support for operating and capital purposes. 

“The Governor released his proposed budget for the second year with cuts to higher education,” Linksz said. “Community colleges again fared somewhat better than other sectors, but proposed per-student state support for our colleges is below 1995-96 funding levels, despite the increase of nearly 65,000 students since then.” 

BCCC experienced a cut of $2 million in 2011-12. It projects another cut of almost $2 million for 2012-13. 

“Careful cuts have been made by the college to protect students’ access to college and college quality. But together with the state cut, salaries and benefits already negotiated, increases in fixed expenses such as insurance and utilities and contracted services, will require a further tuition increase,” Linksz said.

The tuition and fee increases at BCCC are in line with national trends, BCCC officials noted.  According to The College Board, tuition and fees at public two-year colleges rose an average of 6 percent during the 2011-12 academic year. At BCCC, the increase was 7.6 percent.  

Board Chair J. Peter Dominick said its important to keep education at BCCC both affordable and of high quality. “We’ve found that our students and their families are better served by predictable and reasonable tuition increases than by wide swings in tuition and fees from year to year,” he said.