Last month, the General Assembly passed the fiscal year 2008-2009 General Appropriations Bill which reduces the amount of funding available to the state’s technical colleges by 3 percent. This equals about $258,000 for York Technical College. Our enrollment increased 13 percent for 07/08 which means the need for more instructors, classes, and support services. To meet this demand, the College Commission met on June 10 and approved a 4 percent increase in tuition. The Schedule of Student Fees outlines the new tuition charges for 2008-2009.
The highest priorities for the SC Technical College System were the Allied Healthcare Initiative and Lottery Tuition Assistance. Allied health programs are very expensive to operate and there is major demand both in terms of students and employers. As a system, we received a special allocation the last two years. The funding was non-recurring, which means it must be secured anew each year. This year, due to budget constraints it has been difficult to secure funding for a third time. The goal was $15 million. We received $4 million from unclaimed lottery prize money. This is not guaranteed but based on past experience it should be available. In addition, there is another funding possibility that was established for next year. This source is potential surplus in a Health and Human Services recoupment fund. At the end of the fiscal year, our system would receive the first $10 million in excess of $50 million. The end result is that we believe we can continue to operate healthcare programs at the current expanded level but next year we could have less or more funding depending on those funding sources.
The goal for Lottery Tuition Assistance was $58 million which based on estimates would provide close to a $1,000 maximum award. We received 47 million. The lottery tuition rates will be announced later this summer.
