Last year, the Austin Community College board of trustees approved a new policy, promising to reduce costs for students who live outside the district’s tax base.
Monday night, the board made its first small step toward reducing those costs, although board members acknowledged it was a gesture to show students they will be cost-conscious rather than a decision that would have a significant effect for current and prospective students.
The board kept in-district tuition rates the same while electing to reduce the out-of-district fee from $278 to $276 and the out-of-state tuition from $416 to $414. The new fees will be in effect when registration opens for the fall semester on Monday, May 14, and are as follows:
- In-district tuition: $67 per semester credit hour
- Out-of-district tuition: $67 per semester credit hour
- Out-of-state tuition: $416 per semester credit hour
- Out-of-district fee: $276 per semester credit hour
- General fee: $15 per semester credit hour
- Sustainability fee: $1 per semester credit hour
Neil Vickers, ACC’s executive vice president of finance and administration, presented two tuition options to the board. One had no change from last year’s rates, and the other included the $2 reduction in the out-of-district fee and nonresident tuition that was ultimately adopted.
ACC staff recommended the board adopt no changes to the tuition fees, but board Member Nicole Eversmann proposed a motion to adopt the tuition rates with the cost reductions. The motion passed 7-1, with board Member Nora de Hoyos Comstock opposed and Chairwoman Barbara Mink absent.
Students who live outside the district that pays property taxes to Austin Community College can still access the college’s services; however, they do so at a higher cost than students from inside ACC’s taxing district. For the spring 2018 semester, an out-of-district student paid $4,356 for 12 semester credit hours, while an in-district student paid $1,020.
A map of ACC's district and service area is available here.
By comparison, San Antonio-area Alamo College’s tuition and fees for out-of-district students were $2,460 for the spring 2018 semester, and Texas State University’s tuition and fees for in-state residents in fall 2018 were $4,485.
“For our out-of-district rate to be almost as high as Texas State is unacceptable,” Eversmann said. “We shouldn’t be anywhere close.”
In 2017, the board adopted a policy aiming to reduce the out-of-district fee to three times the in-district tuition, or $201. If the board were to achieve that goal, the cost for an out-of-district student would be $3,432 for 12 semester credit hours.
According to Vickers, the reductions in out-of-state tuition and out-of-district fees can be absorbed in ACC’s upcoming fiscal year 2018-19 budget.
“It’s not an immediate problem. We’re running a budget surplus right now and are projected to do that next year due to the strength of appraised (property) values,” Vickers said.
However, Vickers said further reductions in the fees and tuition could have long-term ramifications if the board were to continue making tuition and fee cuts without any other adjustments.
According to projections Vickers presented Monday night, ACC would have a deficit of $477,000 in institutional advancement funds in FY 2020-21 with annual $2 reductions in out-of-state tuition and out-of-district fees.
ACC President Richard Rhodes supported the board’s reduction in tuition and fees, noting that even though it likely would not move the needle in enrollment, it would show students the board is monitoring costs.
“It just sends a message that we are looking at it,” Rhodes said.
