By Jason Ethridge
The Scene staff
Forest Park students will find a bit more cash in their pockets this fall, thanks to St. Louis Community College’s decision to reverse a 5 percent tuition increase.
The action followed news in late June that the college would be getting more funding than expected from the state of Missouri.
“This is all about the students,” said STLCC Chancellor Jeff Pittman. “This plays right into our mission about being accessible, keeping costs down and keeping tuition low.”
STLCC announced in March that tuition would go up from $110.50 to $115.50 per credit hour, effective this fall. That was largely because of then-Gov. Eric Greitens’ proposal to cut $68 million from the state budget for colleges and universities.
But Greitens resigned in May amid scandal, and Lt. Gov. Mike Parson took his place.
On June 29, Parson signed a Missouri budget for fiscal year 2018-2019. House Bill 2003 had restored the higher-education cuts planned by Greitens and allocated more than $140 million to community colleges.
Last week, Pittman expressed gratitude to both the Missouri General Assembly and governor’s office.
“We’re just so thankful for the Legislature and the bipartisan support for restoring our core funding to the previous year amount,” he said.
Incoming Forest Park student Xavian Kimbrough was happy to hear the news about lower tuition. This fall will be his first semester on campus.
“It always feels good to not pay extra,” said Kimbrough, 24, who eventually plans to earn a network engineering degree.
Reversal of the tuition increase could save STLCC students $1.7 million per semester based on current enrollment figures, according to a college press release.
The increase had gone into effect July 8 and therefore didn’t affect students who enrolled in summer classes.
Students who paid for fall classes at the higher rate after July 8 should already have received refunds, according to Pittman and Forest Park interim Provost Julie Fickas.
“There’s always a positive feeling with this sort of change,” Fickas said. “It creates a positive feeling for students and the administration.”
Fickas expressed pride in the fact that STLCC was the first Missouri institution to decrease tuition after passage of House Bill 2003.
“We’ve been getting a lot of press about it,” she said.
Beyond tuition, STLCC students will pay $1 more in technology fees this fall. The money will be used to update technology, including the replacement of PCs and Macs in some classrooms; and make improvements to online education, according to Pittman.
Forest Park general transfer student Alexandria Delaney, 22, wishes tuition was even lower but has no problem with the higher technology fee.
“Technology is kind of the future,” she said. “Computers, phones, all of that. I don’t mind losing the extra dollar.”
Pittman hopes the news about lower tuition will attract more students to STLCC, noting that part of the college’s mission is being affordable and accessible.
But he emphasized that the best part about the state funding news is that it will make things easier on current college students.
“This is a savings of $1.7 million for the students that they will not have to pay in tuition,” he said. “To me, that’s the impact of this. It’s just tremendously good news for the whole St. Louis region.”