Butler County Community College students will see a tuition increase of $5 per credit as the college faces a projected $2.9 million budget deficit.

Trustees passed a resolution Wednesday, June 21, fixing the tuition rate for 2023-24, and also passed the final budget for the year, which has about $39.6 million in expenditures — a decrease of about $10.7 million compared to last year.

The tuition increase will bring the cost for Butler County students to $130 per credit, out-of-county residents to $233 and out-of-state residents to $333.

Nick Neupauer, president of Butler County Community College, said the college has also budgeted for a deficit of $2.9 million, which is due in part to the expiration of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money in 2024. He also said this is the first year of his presidency that the college is running a budget deficit.

“Community colleges have been hit hard; over the years we have placed money into our fund balance to be there in emergency situations,” Neupauer said. “We are going to into this with a plan to address that deficit … The way we plug the hole for a budget deficit in our worst-case scenario is in our fund balance.”

He also said the trustees take tuition “very seriously” at BC3. Despite the hike, Neupauer said students have “ample opportunity for financial aid.”

“Not only is it a low tuition, but aid will help with that, and so will our thriving foundation, which does a fantastic job of raising money for scholarship opportunities,” Neupauer said.

Neupauer said the trustees also heard an enrollment report at the Wednesday meeting, which showed that credit enrollment is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. While enrollment is still down about 4% on credits, Neupauer said the school expects to gain more enrollments as the semester approaches.

“For the spring semester, we were up a little bit — half a percent on the credits,” he said. “We're down about 4% on credits, but today's enrollment report, it has already improved by a couple percent. We see fall enrollment going in a positive direction.”

According to Neupauer, higher education institutions are competing for a smaller pool of applicants in recent years. He said BC3, however, has been handling the changing enrollment well.

“Community colleges typically get enrollment late in the game,” Neupauer said. “While there is a tuition increase, we feel that it is fair because students have access to federal financial aid.”