CC Regents vote to raise tuition, fees

State budget woes continued to be felt at Clarendon College last Thursday as the CC Board of Regents voted to increase tuition and fees to cope with anticipated funding cuts.

The board approved increases of $15 per semester hour for in-district or Donley County students, $16 for Texas students, and $20 for out of state students. That brings CC’s total tuition costs to $51, $66, and $81 in each respective category, which is not anticipated to harm the college’s competitiveness.

“We’re going up, but we’re still a lot cheaper than other colleges,” said CC President Myles Shelton.

Frank Phillips College in Borger will be charging up to $61 in district, $77 in state, and $94 out of state, Shelton said. He also noted that four-year institutions, such as Texas Tech University and West Texas A&M University, charge hundreds of dollars higher than Clarendon.

Regents also increased meal plan charges and dorm room charges each by $100 per semester.

“These increases go to offset anticipated cuts in state appropriations in the next budget cycle,” Shelton said.

CC is expecting to see a decrease in funding by 12.5 percent in the next state budget, which includes a forced seven percent cut that took effect last month and caused the loss of four jobs.

In addition to increasing tuition and fees, college officials are busy working to help bring in more money by increasing enrollment by introducing new programs such as softball, equine science, and rodeo. Shelton said CC’s recruiting goals for next fall are geared toward filling the new 80-bed residence hall now under construction on the south side of the Clarendon campus.

One group of students will see their fees decline significantly. Regents approved eliminating a $400 per semester transportation fee paid only by students in the Ranch & Feedlot Operations program and spread that cost over the entire student body.

“This was something that dated back over 15 years,” Shelton said. “The original idea was to buy vans to take the RFO class out in the field; we bought a new van every other year, and their oldest van would be four years old.”

When the RFO class replaced a van, the old van was moved into the CC motor pool for use by other programs. This had the effect of making the RFO program pay for the vans used by the entire college.

Regent Jim Blackerby said the practice was unfair, and Regent Jack Moreman raised concerns that the high fee could impact the RFO program’s competitiveness.

One dollar per semester of the approved tuition increase will be used to replace the transportation fee.