Members of the Florence-Darlington County Commission for Technical Education voted to approve amendments to the college’s 2008-09 budget, which totals $30,710,888, during a regular meeting held Wednesday at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology.
The board had to amend the college’s budget in the wake of state budget cuts totaling $805,668.
To absorb those cuts, the board approved a motion to increase student tuition by $108 per semester beginning this spring. That amounts to $9 per credit hour for a student taking 12 hours of credit.
“We didn’t want to do it,” FDTC President Dr. Charles Gould said. “We were very reluctant.
“We’re just losing money from the state and there’s no way to keep up,” he said.
The tuition increase — which would give the college $312,371 for the spring semester — would generate an estimated $775,000 annually to be used in the college’s general operating budget, according to college officials.
The increase doesn’t apply to any other student fees.
Included in the amendments was a 5.2 percent in “across the board divisional cuts,” which would add $493,297.
The increase in tuition and the divisional cuts would cover the more than $800,000 shortfall.
Gould said “a lot of the students probably won’t feel (the increase) and that the college will help students find ways to pay the increase.
“A lot of the students probably won’t feel this because it will be in their financial aid packages and financial aid has also increase somewhat,” Gould said. “(And) a lot of the students receive lottery funds.
“Most of the students, except for about (18 percent) of the students, we’ll be able to figure out how to help them through federal money,” he said.
The college’s state allocation has been reduced by more than $1 million from the prior year, including cuts to the funding for the allied health initiative.
Florence-Darlington Tech was the only college in the state that didn’t increase tuition for the fall term and the previous academic year, according to college officials.
The board voted against increasing tuition for the fall semester during its June meeting.
On the Web:
Florence-Darlington Technical College: www.fdtc.edu
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