Peninsula Daily News and news sources
Peninsula College administrators are awaiting word on exactly how much the midyear cuts approved by the state Legislature will affect the school.
The college is anticipating about a 3.8 percent cut to its $16 million budget, said Deb Frazier, vice president of administrative services, on Wednesday, adding that she expects to know the exact amount later this week or next week.
“We were anticipating some sort of cut in the current year,” she said. “We had been told that it would be in the 6.3 percent range.”
The college — which is based in Port Angeles and also has campuses in Port Townsend and Forks — had already planned for a cut, Frazier said.
“We set ourselves up well for this,” she said.
“And President [Tom] Keegan has been saying for a year that we can get through this, but we have yet to see what will happen in the next biennium.”
Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed budget for the next biennium calls for more cuts to higher education.
Aross-the-board budget cuts of 4.2 percent are outlined in her proposal for both community colleges and four-year-schools, saving the state $102 million.
Gregoire’s proposal would allow colleges and universities to raise tuition for resident undergraduates at set amounts.
Ten percent increases in tuition are suggested to offset some of the cuts.
That would mean that a student at a community college would see an increase of $280 in fiscal year 2012, followed by a $305 increase in fiscal year 2013 in tuition.
The state has raised tuition by 7 percent each year for the past two years in order to offset previous decreases in state funding.
