Jefferson College officials will raise tuition next school year as part of its fiscal year 2024 budget, which was approved June 8.
The budget also includes a large capital project – an addition to the Viking Woods housing complex.
The college’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the budget, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2024, and includes $37.5 million in operating costs, up from the previous year’s budget of $34.8 million.
The college is projected to bring in $35,045,903 during the 2024 fiscal year, up from this year’s projection of $33,434,162.
Since the 2024 budget has the college spending about $2.4 million more than it expects to bring in, officials plan to use reserve funds to balance the budget.
Despite the deficit spending, Jefferson College President Dena McCaffrey said the school remains financially solid.
“By the end of FY24, our unrestricted fund reserves are projected to be at 20.7 percent, $7,034,988,” McCaffrey said. “I feel we are in a strong financial position. Our goal is to keep our unrestricted fund reserves between 15 percent and 20 percent.”
The projected ending reserve fund balance for the current fiscal year is $9,405,339.
McCaffrey said college officials anticipated using the reserves in the FY24 budget.
“We actually planned and built our reserves knowing we needed it for salary increases and because of inflation,” she said.
Tuition increase
Students who live in Jefferson County will see next school year’s tuition increase by $2 a credit hour, from $118 to $120 a credit hour. Out-of-district students who live in Missouri will see a $3 per credit hour increase, from $177 to $180 per credit hour; and out-of-state students will see tuition rise by $4 a credit hour, from $236 to $240 per credit hour.
Tuition is the same at all three campuses – the Hillsboro, Arnold and Imperial campuses.
McCaffrey said Jefferson College tuition remains competitive among Missouri’s community colleges.
“We are still in the middle of the pack and likely are increasing our tuition less than several of the others,” McCaffrey said. “We do minimal increases each year when there is an increase. We try to keep (the increases) low more often rather than a big increase less often.”
Viking Woods addition
The new budget allocates $23,475,482 for capital projects, including $5 million for expansion of the Arnold campus building to add a floor and accommodate the college’s Law Enforcement Academy; $5 million for a Viking Woods student housing expansion at the Hillsboro campus; $4 million for a new Veterinary Tech facility at the Hillsboro campus; and $3.5 million for renovations to the Fine Arts North building on the Hillsboro campus.
Also during the June 8 meeting, the board voted unanimously to award a $4.52 million contract to Aspire Construction Services in St. Charles to complete the Viking Woods expansion project – a new 14,470-square-foot building, which will join the three existing student housing buildings.
The new building will provide six studio apartments for one student each and four two-bedroom apartments to accommodate two students each.
The new Viking Woods building also will house the Jefferson College Police Department, which will be relocated from one of the existing Viking Woods buildings.
Dale Richardson, the college’s director of buildings and grounds, said the three Viking Woods buildings date back to 2000, and the new building will be slightly smaller than those. The Police Department move will open up a suite with four bedrooms in the building where the police currently are headquartered.
McCaffrey said about 200 students live in Viking Woods student housing, and the expansion should allow for about 20 more to live there.
“Construction will start after July 1,” she said.
She said the goal is for the new building to be ready for occupancy by the start of the 2024 fall semester.
Employee raises
As previously reported, the new budget calls for the college’s 300 employees to receive pay raises. Certified staff and faculty will receive raises of 3.5 percent and classified staff will receive raises that average 6.81 percent. The raises will cost the district about $585,900.
Of the $37.5 million in operating costs in the new budget, $26,205,000 is for employee salary and benefits.
Adjunct instructors also will receive raises in the new budget based on years of experience at Jefferson College, said Chris DeGeare, the college’s dean of instruction.
“The raises range from 2 percent to 10 percent,” he said.
DeGeare said the number of adjunct instructors varies from semester to semester, but he expects there to be about 120 for the fall 2023 semester.
He said the raises for adjunct instructors will cost the college about $30,000 next school year.