The Austin Community College district board of trustees unanimously approved a balanced budget for fiscal year 2026-27, keeping the district's tuition and mandatory fees unchanged for the 13th consecutive year while continuing to fund the college’s free tuition program.
The $583 million budget is made up of investments that “position ACC to meet the evolving educational and workforce needs of one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions,” including employee raises and $10.4 million in campus renovations, according to a July 7 news release from the district.
The details
Under this budget, local students will continue to pay $67 per credit hour—or $85 including mandatory fees—while the out-of-district price is held at $201 per credit hour, according to the district website.
Also included in the FY 2026-27 operating budget is a 2% annual raise and a $1,700 one-time lump sum for full-time employees in addition to retaining the district's $23/hour minimum wage set in 2024. The budget also leaves employee health benefits untouched despite a 7.5% increase to state insurance premiums, the district said in the release.
The budget, which goes into effect Sept. 1, is funded through state appropriations, property tax revenue, and tuition and fees, of which the first two are currently seeing shifts, district officials said.
The district’s budget for FY 2025-26 was $568 million, allocating $3 million to expand the Round Rock campus’s central utility plant, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
What they’re saying
In-district tuition and fees for public and community two-year institutions average 41% higher than the yearly cost of ACC, according to an April 9 release from the district.
“At a time when so many institutions are facing cuts and other hard realities, I'm proud of the work our leadership team has done through routine planning and ongoing operational efficiencies to keep ACC in a position where we can continue investing in our community,” Chairman Sean Hassan said in the July 7 release.
Representatives from ACC's employee associations and several faculty and staff members pushed back at the July 6 board meeting, calling for a 4% permanent raise instead of the stipend structure, arguing that one-time payments don't build into future salaries or retirement. An alternative motion for a 2.5% permanent raise failed 4-3 before the board adopted the administration's proposal.
Property tax revenue is down for the first time in 17 years, per the release, and for the first time in over a decade, employee salaries exceeded property tax revenue, board member Gigi Edwards Bryant said at the July 6 meeting.
The budget also assumes flat state appropriations, though Chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart said at the July 6 board meeting that the college has received word it could lose $6 million in state funding—a cut leaders hope will be restored through a supplemental appropriations bill during the next legislative session, he said.
