WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: More cuts proposed for Mississippi's 2-year colleges

More cuts proposed for Mississippi's 2-year colleges

By Cheryl Lasseter - bio | email

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - It looks like our state's two-year colleges aren't beyond the reach of Governor Haley Barbour's budget axe.

Mississippi's community college system has already had to trim 5 percent in the middle of the current budget year, and Hinds Community College President Dr. Clyde Muse says the state may ask for another 5 percent before the fiscal year ends.

So an additional 12 percent cut for next year seems outrageous.

"We're part of the solution to this economic recession," Dr. Muse says.

Governor Barbour proposes that our 2-year colleges condense payroll and other administrative functions to one central office.  He'd like to close some campuses, especially satellite campuses.  Community college athletic programs, Governor Barbour says, can be downsized or cut out.

Junior College chief Eric Clark calls community colleges the closest thing the state has to a silver bullet to improving the state's economy. That's because community colleges are relatively cheap, and close to home for most students.

Sophomore Christopher Lockhart decided on Hinds over Mississippi State for one simple reason: the tuition savings. 

"Not only is it affordable, it provides a bridge program from high school to college," he says.

Sophomore Hannah Koester dorms at Hinds. She likes the short commute from home each week.

"I live in Vicksburg, so the commute is much shorter than a four-year university," she says.

Both students believe the two-year colleges should be exempt from further cuts. Enrollment at Hinds is up 14 percent in one year, and tuition hasn't been hiked in three years.

But after shaving expenses in transportation, equipment, and other areas, Dr. Muse says a tuition increase may be the only option left.

"If you raise tuition on a person that's having difficulty finding money to go to school, you just take away that person's capability of going to school," he says.  "The State of Mississippi spends considerably less for a community college student than they do a K-12 student, and about one-half of what they spend for a university student, so this system is lean already."

Clark says all options for trimming expenses will be examined, but he urges the legislature to be careful with community colleges, which have seen a 44 percent enrollment increase in a decade.