Tuition at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College will increase from $1,064 to $1,200 for full-time, in-county students starting this autumn.

Members of the O-C Tech Area Commission voted on the increase Tuesday.

The increase comes in the wake of expected state budget cuts -- up to possibly 9.8 percent -- that OCTC president Anne Crook says is making it difficult for all agencies, including technical colleges, to prepare budgets.

"We will be using our most best guess of estimating what will happen," Crook said. "Based on the information we have, we feel it is a prudent thing for us to ask students to have a tuition of $1,200 for the fall."

The tuition hike, which is exclusive of the $50 technology fee levied on all students, is the first increase at OCTC since the fall of 2002. This fact has kept its tuition levels below 11 of the other 16 technical colleges in the state, Crook said.

"We feel like $1,200 is safe," Crook said. "It is certainly not the maximum (which stands at slightly over $1,300), and we feel like we did not go up in the spring when others did. We are averaging out."

Increased enrollment last year helped OCTC absorb much of the 8.73 percent budget cut felt by other colleges, said Retta Guthrie, vice president for business affairs.

With a number of questions relating to the extent of this year's cuts still remaining to be answered, such as enrollment figures, Orangeburg County and Calhoun County contributions and lottery funding, Guthrie said all scenarios have been considered in the determination of the tuition increase.

"We are setting up a contingency in case there are additional cuts," Guthrie said. "We are in the process of formulating the budget. We hope to define that more in the next few days as the legislature winds down and we have a feeling of where we will be."

In addition to tuition increases, Crook said if the 9.8 percent cut comes to fruition, there may have to be shifts in other budgeted items.

"Does this does involve any layoffs or shutdowns?" OCTC Commission Chairman Larry Patrick asked.

"We will not need to shut down courses that would be directly attributable to the budget," Guthrie said. "There might still be some attributable to low enrollment."

Cook agreed.

"There may be some positions that we have already cut and there are some things that we may cut, but they will have nothing to do with the fact that we did not have the money to do it," she said.

Guthrie said there are expectations to have a tentative 2003-2004 budget in place by the commission's board meeting next month. A final version is expected for approval in September.

In other matters, commissioners unanimously approved a policy requiring students to remain at OCTC for the completion of their last semester prior to graduation. The policy would attempt to prevent students from transferring out of the college only to return for graduation.

They also approved a policy requiring students in distant learning classes to make weekly contact with their respective instructors. Crook said often times students sign up for the courses and receive class benefits without actually participating in the class.

"We are requiring the student to take the responsibility to let us know that 'I am there and working on this class,' " Crook said.

In her presidential report, Crook related the continuing effort on the part of technical college presidents to work in a collaborative effort to address issues affecting education.

In a meeting held last week, Crook said, there were discussions on K-12 projects, equitable technical college funding and a reinforcement of the technical college mission as a key player in the promotion of economic development.

In other business:

-- Guthrie reported the college has collected approximately $126,000 as a result of the newly implemented $50 technology fee. Of this amount, roughly $63,000 has been spent on lap top computers, the creation of a computer classroom and furniture among other items.

-- Walt Tobin, vice president of academic affairs, demonstrated the capabilities of a soon-to-be Internet-based student database system. The system will allow students access to academic information relative to their respective needs such as course scheduling, enrollment opportunities, grades and transcripts along with personal information.

A pilot test of the system will be conducted during fall registration with official implementation expected in the spring.

-- Tobin reported summer enrollment at 1,473 students or an increase of 20 percent from the 2002 summer enrollment.

-- Announced a plan to welcome the newest Community Higher Education Council president, Dr. Andrew Hugine, at the CHEC's annual dinner and meeting held at Claflin University Wednesday afternoon.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551.

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