Alabama’s two-year colleges facing tuition increases

Tuition at Alabama’s two-year colleges including Gadsden State, is going up nearly 20 percent next month following a state board of education decision. It’s the first of three increases that will result in tuition of $92 per credit hour in the fall of 2011. Out-of-state tuition is double. Gadsden State on Friday said tuition will increase 19.7 percent for the spring semester. Similar increases are in store for other area two year colleges. Tuition will increase from $71 to $85 per credit hour, then to $90 per credit hour in fall 2010. Tuition will increase $2 per credit hour in fall 2011. Some schools have slightly different fees, but with the new pricing, in general, the cost of each credit hour with fees will be about $104 in the spring, $109 in fall 2010 and $111 in fall 2011. It’s the first tuition increase in five years in the two-year college system. Gadsden State lost $3.2 million in state funding to proration last year and will lose $1.9 million to proration this year. In October, interim two-year college Chancellor Joan Davis said even with the increase, tuition at two-year colleges is 41 percent to 52 percent less than at Alabama’s public four-year universities. The proposed increase will produce $21.5 million in revenue in 2009-2010.