Southeast Community College plan would hold tuition flat, increase fees

BEATRICE – Southeast Community College administration has forwarded a proposal to the school’s board of governors that would hold tuition flat for the next academic year but increase the fee for facilities.

The plan, discussed at a board meeting on the Beatrice Campus Tuesday, would retain tuition at $102 per credit hour, keep the student activities fee at $3, but increase the student facilities fee from $9 to $12.  SCC is in the process of ongoing major facility improvements at its three campuses in Lincoln, Beatrice and Milford.

Under the tuition and fees proposal the cost for a student taking 30 semester hours would increase from $3,420 per semester, to $3,510. SCC has generally been at the midpoint of six community colleges in Nebraska, for tuition and fees.

The proposal would represent a 2.6% increase. Lincoln Campus Director Bev Cummins says reaction from student senate organizations on the plan to increase fees only, has been positive.  SCC Board member James Sherwood says the college must be mindful of the bottom-line cost for students.

"It has nothing to do with the numbers presented, but my experience at another institution...very proud that it didn't raise tuition for a period of six years, but what it did is raise fees every year. And, the public reaction was, I write a check to the institution...I don't write a check for tuition, I don't write a check for fees. And, so the cost of attending still goes up, whatever we call what we're charging. It's more of a public relations kind of concern, rather than a financial concern."

Board member Ellen Weissinger said the one revenue stream the college really has control of, is tuition and fees….less so, on property tax and state aid.
"You can do that by increasing the tuition rate and higher education institutions did that a lot, over the last twenty years. But, I think for us, that's not the best act. And, I'm so proud of the college for bringing us now, for three years in a row, budgets that don't involve tuition increases. That's hard to do in a growing institution. I think that shows real restraint. But, I assume that all of this extraordinary development and the new buildings...and the amazing programs like the Biotech program we just saw, represent a significant upside for enrollment increases."  Weissinger says enrollment increases could increase tuition revenue, without changing rates.

College officials are also proposing a room and board increase of about 1.5%, varying somewhat based on residential room options. Food rates for students would not be increased despite a roughly 5% inflation factor. Room rates would go up approximately 2%.

For the 2022-2023 fiscal year, SCC officials are projecting a fall occupancy rate of around 62% at the Beatrice Campus….and 95% at the Milford Campus.

At Tuesday’s board meeting held at the Academic Excellence Center on the Beatrice Campus, board members authorized college administration to work with a contractor to demolish Jackson and Adams Halls, on the Beatrice campus. That demolition would remove the remaining oldest buildings from the early days of the campus.