SSCC committee weighs options on pending state cuts

The finance committee of The Southern State Community College Board of Trustees met Wednesday to discuss the college's budget in response to pending state funding cuts.

  The meeting was held at Alley 21 in Hillsboro and the committee ­which includes board members Vickie Wilson, Paul Hall and Michelle Cimis, ­was joined by board chair Kay Ayres, SSCC President Kevin Boys and SSCC Vice President of Business and Finance Jim Buck. 

  Boys and Buck opened the meeting by acknowledging anticipated spending cuts from the state level, but said the college was in a position to sustain it. 

  "We're in really good financial shape," Boys said. "We couldn¹t be in a better position to face cuts in upwards of 20 percent. The main thing for the board to consider is to what extent you want to tap the reserves, maintain tuition, and stay on the path for strategic planning initiatives."

  Buck said that the college can sustain the state cuts by making some small cuts in the budget, increasing tuition and tapping reserve funds. College dollars are also budgeted very conservatively, that a savings will be seen this year through faculty retirements, through a change in the way summer and part-time pay, and savings that will come through negotiated changes in health care contributions.  

  "Historically there would be a 15-percent increase (in health insurance) but because of a change in the co-pay of the HSA (health savings account),"

Buck said. "The college's cost is two-thirds of an increase. If it is 10 percent, the college pays 6.5 percent. We¹re way ahead of the curve. That is demonstrative of a very successful union negotiation."

   While there was a 38-percent increase in SSCC enrollment in recent years, Buck said that this past winter the college saw an increase of less than 1 percent. 

   For the coming school year, "We're projecting no enrollment increase when preparing the budget," Buck said. 

   Wilson and Buck discussed a survey from the Ohio Association of Community Colleges regarding faculty salary, which showed the average salary was at $52,500, and Southern State faculty members average $57,000. However, Buck said that figure drops when you look at a faculty member's longevity. 

   "That's teaching three quarters a year, 15 hours a quarter," Boys said. 

   "Over a period of 14 years, we¹re below the median," Buck said. "Those are facts. And that doesn¹t show the impact of a 38- percent enrollment increase."

   With the college¹s recent enrollment increases, Buck said, "We had a lot of capacity for growth ... We did a lot to add quality."

   Buck said the college has done a lot to keep costs down.

   "Our overall costs are down 11 percent over last year, which is remarkable with a 5-percent increase in enrollment," Buck said. 

   A breakdown of the college's resource allocations showed that Southern State spent more than 60 percent on instruction and academic support, which was higher than the state average of just over 55 percent. 

   When looking at tuition across the state, as previously reported in The Highland County Press, SSCC remains the lowest, with the exception of community colleges with levies. 

   In May, the board voted to implement a 7-percent tuition increase, the college's first increase in four years. 

   Per quarter, Southern State¹s tuition is $3,633 while the average tuition in the state is $3,878, according to data Buck provided to the committee.

   Buck said that based on tuition figures from other colleges, the college could have raised tuition another 6.7 percent "and still been average."

   "That should have been the headline last year, 'Southern State tuition is lowest in state' instead of 'trustees raise tuition,'" Wilson said. 

   Buck said that had SSCC raised tuition so that it would be average, it would have brought $811,764 into the general fund in one year.

   When looking at potential state cuts, Buck said he anticipated a 20-percent cut as a "worst-case scenario," and he provided the committee with several "what-if scenarios" with corresponding percentages of tuition increases to help cover the gap.  

   No matter what cuts colleges across the state may face, Buck said, "There's not going to be an 18-percent increase at any school."

   "Particularly here," Ayres said. 

   Additionally, a percentage of the budget will be made up with reserve funds, in varying percentages, depending on the amount of the state decrease. 

   "That's why you save money, for when tough times come," Buck said, and with the current financial situation, the college can still "maintain quality initiatives."

   Boys said that with the new biennial budget there will most likely be an increase in the tuition cap, but that SSCC should look at a self-imposed tuition cap. 

   Hall said that if there wasn't an increase in the statewide tuition cap, "Some schools will go bankrupt. It won¹t be us, but they will at some schools."

Buck said that he reviewed Southern State's tuition history and from what he could find, the highest increase in the school's history was 8.5 percent, but it typically increases were 2 percent. 

"Isn't that amazing?" Wilson said. 

"No, it isn't," Ayres said. 

Buck said that the college has not kept with inflation, and that if you adjusted for inflation, the college is currently charging less than it did in 1996.

"We've never had a real tuition increase if you factor inflation," Buck said. 

Boys said that with a potential tuition cap, he didn't think that Southern State would ever have the ability to increase tuition to an "average" amount.

The committee also discussed various programs, including the truck driving academy, and which programs were the most successful in terms of enrollment.