OSA

Major Points of Why we Should Go with
Student Based Funding for Community Colleges

• Every community college president, with the help of each individual school board of directors, put the student based funding model together.

• The way the new model is set up, the monies allocated to community colleges would be given to schools according to their enrollment.  There will be a set amount of money given to community colleges and then split up from there.  If a school had a rise in enrollment, the amount of money they get from that allotment will increase.

• The new model gives money for each full time enrollment (FTE).  The higher your FTE, the more money you get from the allotment.

• Student based funding will give a more accurate amount of money to colleges to help pay for everyday expenses such as student services, teachers, operations and maintenance, and academic support.

• Right now, the money that we get from the state is only increased with the rise of inflation.  Although we have had a rise in school enrollment, the amount of money coming from the state had not been able to match it.  Right now there is a Widening Gap between Enrollment and State Funding.

• Community colleges are known for small class sizes, low tuition rates, low numbers of students waiting to get into a class, and classes being easy to get into.

• Accessibility:  Offer classes to everyone, help those students who are returning to school to better their lives, larger class sizes.

• Affordability:  Slow our tuition rate increases so students will still be able to afford going to school.

• Adaptability:  Hire more teachers in the computer areas where it seems that all industries are headed, help people make an easier change over from timber-based economy to something more diversified.

• Accountability:  Able to help our schools prepare students for the workforce in our communities, enable our schools to build up the reserve monies again so we can continue to ensure our place in the community and set voters' minds to rest.

• The new model will help schools show the legislators where the money they give us is going.

• It will help the community colleges to achieve their goals of keeping access open, expanding distance learning, increasing K-12 partnerships, and being responsive to training needs of local industries.

• It will preserver local control.  Colleges would retain the right to set tuition and fees, set budgets, and determine what programs and policies they would have.

All around this is the best way to help community colleges.  We are building blocks in our communities and our wonderful state.  But we are not going to be able to help at our full capacity if we don't get the funding we need.  As legislators of our great state, we need your support in order to help us become what we could be, A STATE THAT CARES FOR ITS PEOPLE AND DOES WHAT IT CAN TO HELP THEM.