WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Summer can be pretty quiet at Jefferson Community College as campus leaders get ready to bring students back this fall.
For those enrolled at JCC, an almost 3 percent tuition increase is proposed in the next budget
“2021 was the last time we increased tuition, it’s $72 a semester, $144 a year,” said JCC Administrator in Charge Dan Dupee.
While there will be a bump in tuition, the college anticipated fewer full- and part-time students – down 4 percent from last year.
Dupee says there are reasons for it
“You can make $16, $17 an hour coming out of high school now so that amount of students that will actually come to college changes so we have got a lesser amount,” he said.
With fewer students, there are fewer classes and instructors. Since 2020, the college has cut 38 positions.
In this year’s proposed budget, the college will save almost $2 million in personnel costs.
The spending plan also asks for a 2 percent funding increase from Jefferson County which amounts to around $100,000.
As for money in the bank, the college is sitting better than expected at almost $7 million dollars. Of that, $4 million is Covid relief money.
There are plans for that money.
“We do have the e-sports lab that is coming online this year. We have used it for some strategic initiatives on campus to move forward and right now we are using it to close our funding gap over the next several years,” said Dupee.
Dupee says closing the funding gap will help until JCC can bring enrollment back up again.
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