State increases CC funding by 9 percent

Clarendon College will receive a nine percent increase in funding under a bill passed by the 77th Legislature last weekend.

State Rep. Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) notified CC President Myles Shelton last week that state funding for the two-year college will be increased from $2.12 million to $2.31 million for the next two years – a net increase of $386,000.

Senate Bill 1 passed both houses of the legislature over the weekend, and Gov. Rick Perry is expected to sign it following a review by the comptroller’s office.

Shelton said the legislature took note of the needs of small rural community colleges this biennium and gave them the same percentage increase as larger community colleges.

“There was a feeling across the state that if the community colleges didn’t get some help, tuition was going to go up significantly,” Shelton said. “This increase keeps access to the two-year colleges affordable.”

Much of the new funding will help pay for the expenses of operating the college.

“We know there is an increased cost of doing business,” Shelton said. “We see it from the price of gas to the cost of photocopiers. We also want to look at enhancing existing programs and starting new programs.”

Shelton said salaries are another area the college needs to look at in order to retain qualified staff and faculty.

CC Board of Regents Chairman Mike Butts said the increased funding is good news for CC.

“We’re going to be able to address a lot of issues that we haven’t been able to,” he said. “The cost of energy is a major issue as much as our judging teams and athletic teams travel and as much as our instructors travel to other campuses. Salaries are also an issue.”

Butts also said the new funding is good news for the local economy because much of it will be spent in Clarendon and Donley County as well as the college’s service area.

Clarendon has experienced growth during the last school year. Enrollment for the 2000-2001 year was up about 12 percent.

The enrollment increase follows the opening of a new CC Pampa Center this past year and an effort by the college to improve programs on the home campus. The 12 percent gain was reported to be evenly split between the CC home campus and its satellite in Pampa.

Shelton says Rep. Chisum is largely responsible for this year’s increase.

“I give a lot of credit to Warren Chisum for going to bat for us,” Shelton said. “He also had a lot of help down there [in Austin].”

Clarendon College remains an affordable education choice. Shelton said a student at CC can expect to pay $500 to $600 for tuition and fees where they might pay $1,500 to $2,000 at state senior college.