Thousands of Maryland students will pay more for their education in the coming school year as community colleges, squeezed between growing enrollment and the likelihood of decreasing state and county aid, are raising their tuition.

Increases of $3 to $6 per credit hour are on their way for in-county students at Howard and Carroll community colleges as well as at the Community College of Baltimore County. Baltimore City Community College tuition could go up as much as $9 a credit hour.

Anne Arundel County Community College and others also are contemplating raises.

"We hate to do it," said Roger Caplan, president of the board of trustees at Howard Community College, "but everyone has to bear some of the brunt [of difficult economic times]. We understand that."

The University System of Maryland revealed last week that it is considering a 5 percent midyear tuition increase for the spring semester that begins this month. That could mean $90 to $120 in extra payments for in-state undergraduates this spring.

The planned community college increases could add $45 to $90 a semester in tuition expense for full-time in-county students at area schools beginning next fall - possibly more in Baltimore City. Tuition for a full 30-credit year at Baltimore-area community colleges could reach between $2,070 and $2,700.

Affordable education

During an economic downturn, community college enrollment goes up "because we are the affordable higher-education institution," Caplan said.

Community colleges are now educating 53 percent of Maryland undergraduates, said Anthony G. Kinkel, executive director of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges.

As the state seeks space for a projected 20,000 new students during the next decade, he said, individuals "will turn increasingly to community colleges."

Baltimore-area community colleges are hoping for the best in state and local aid and are planning for the worst.

To support enrollment that has grown 8 percent to 9 percent each year for the past several years, Howard Community College's board of trustees is expected to approve a $47 million operating budget for the fiscal year beginning in July, up $3.7 million from the current fiscal year.

In addition to a tuition increase, the school hopes to fund that growth with a 13.6 percent boost in county aid and 4.5 percent more from the state.

Howard Community College also plans to use that money to hire five new faculty members, maintain new athletic fields and meet the expenses of putting its new 105,000-square-foot instructional building to use.

The school also is pushing a $23.5 million capital budget that would use state, county and private funds to build a new arts and humanities building on its Columbia campus, among other projects.

Carroll Community College in Westminster has already secured funding for its new nursing and allied health building. But it is requesting capital funds from the county and state to fill it with furniture and equipment.

The school is planning to use its $3 in-county tuition increase - to $82 per credit hour - to help fund a new health curriculum and to cover other costs.

Administrators hoped to avoid tuition increases this year, but "as we got more information about the level of funding we could expect from government sources, we reached a different conclusion," said Alan Schuman, executive vice president of administration.

In Baltimore County, the school's board has already approved tuition increases of $6 for in-county students and $24 for non-county and out-of-state residents.

That school would like to receive more county and state aid to help cover costs associated with a projected 8 percent enrollment increase. It also hopes to increase programs for minority students and hopes to establish new "schools of learning" in information technology, allied health fields and criminal justice.

Baltimore City Community College is considering a $6 to $9 increase per credit hour. It does not differentiate by student residence.

The college relies on a flat payment of $800,000 from the city and a significant contribution of state funding.

It is bracing for severe cuts by freezing hiring, reevaluating classes and putting off maintenance projects, including a partially completed renovation of a main classroom building.

Limited resources

Like other community colleges, Baltimore City Community College is worried about raising rates when many of its students have limited financial resources.

"Our concern is we have a high percentage of students who receive federal financial aid," said college President Sylvester McKay. "Thirty-three percent have family incomes less than $20,000 [a year]."

Anne Arundel Community College has not submitted a budget to its board of trustees, awaiting concrete news on aid from the state. But "it is a possibility that we will be facing a tuition increase," said Fran Turcott, a college spokeswoman.

For all of the community colleges, the state government's role is key - and worrisome.

Last year, Gov. Parris N. Glendening changed a formula that had provided community colleges with aid equaling a quarter of the University of Maryland's budget. Instead, the two-year schools received 23.1 percent of a university budget that the governor cut.

The state had already changed another formula that ties Baltimore City Community College aid to University of Maryland spending, cutting the city school's state help.

State aid to all community colleges is supposed to return to previous highs in 2006, but colleges are pushing for that to happen sooner. However, with Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. facing a projected $1.8 billion state budget deficit over the next two years, education aid is likely to be restrained.

Still, community colleges are determined to fight for a larger share.

The guarantee of proportional funding for two-year schools "means more opportunity for our students," Kinkel said.

Caplan agrees. "Under Glendening, four-year schools flourished," he said. "Community colleges have not gotten their fair share."

The planned tuition increases are just the latest in a recent series. But tuition at the state's four-year schools is rising even faster.

Tuition and fees for residents at community colleges statewide increased an average of 14 percent between fiscal years 1997 and 2001, according to a report from the Maryland Association of Community Colleges.

Tuition and fees for undergraduates at four-year state public schools increased 25 percent in the same period, according to budget information compiled by the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

In 2001, the last year for which statistics have been published by the commission, the statewide average for 30 credit hours at community colleges was $2,340 while the statewide average at public four-year schools was $4,704.

Joshua Wiker, a criminal justice major at Howard Community College and vice president of the student government association, says the value of community colleges may take some of the sting out of proposed tuition increases.

Community colleges are required by law to provide an affordable education. But with enrollment growing and no way to raise tuition enough to cover costs, insufficient government funds "could put us in an untenable situation," said Steve Kirchner, vice chancellor for finance and administration at Baltimore City Community College.

Increases

Baltimore City CC

Possible tuition increase per credit hour: $6 to $9

Possible new cost per credit hour (all students): $69 to $72

CC of Baltimore County

Tuition increase for county residents: $6; noncounty residents: $24; nonstate residents: $24.

New cost per credit hour for county residents: $77; noncounty residents: $150; nonstate residents: $205

Carroll Community College

Tuition increase: $3

New cost per credit hour (county resident): $82

Howard Community College

Tuition increase: $4

New cost per credit hour (county resident): $90