Pima Community College will raise taxes by 1 percent and local tuition rates by 4 percent next school year under a budget finalized Wednesday by the schoolβs Governing Board.
The changes will help the school raise about $248 million to support its operations in the 2017 school year that starts next month.
Under the new budget, the owner of a $100,000 home will pay $137.33 or $1.36 more than this year. Property taxes are PCCβs largest revenue source, providing more than a third of its funding.
The new budget was approved unanimously by the five-member board.
The new spending plan is driven in large part by the lack of any state funding for PCC for the second year in a row, and by an enrollment slump now in its fifth straight year.
The budget calls for the elimination of 23 vacant staff positions, and a collective $2.3 million cut to operating costs that will be phased in over the school year by individual units.
It also includes a $500,000 infusion for PCC athletics, and more than $500,000 in spending to boost enrollment.
Although local tax and tuition rates are up, PCC expects to spend about $11 million less next year. Thatβs due in large part to a projected $5 million drop in financial aid revenue β money the college wonβt receive with fewer students in attendance.
PCC has lost the equivalent of nearly 7,000 full-time students β about 30 percent of its enrollment β over the last five years as it faced accreditation problems and controversy over admission restrictions that later were abandoned.
The college had about 16,000 full-time students this school year compared to 23,000 in 2011.
Under the new budget, most Arizona students will pay tuition of $78.50 per unit, $3 more than this year.
International and out of state students will see their tuition rates drop by nearly 15 percent, from $352 to $300 per unit. The nonresident rate was cut because PCC administration said it was too high to attract such students.
