PENNSYLVANIA Budget would aid community college funds

Enrollments in the fall semester were setting records, one group reported.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- Leaders of Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges are encouraged by Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to boost state support to their schools, but say they still expect some challenges keeping up with substantial enrollment growth.
Rendell's spending plan for the 2004-05 fiscal year would boost community college subsidies by 5 percent, from $214 million to roughly $225 million. The state would also set aside $10 million to help repay the cost of borrowing for construction projects and other campus improvements, state Education Department spokesman Brian Christopher said.
In October, the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges reported that the schools were experiencing "record-setting enrollments" in the fall semester, with increases averaging 10 percent pushing enrollment past 170,000.
Presidents' reactions
The commission's executive director, Diane Bosak, did not return telephone calls seeking comment Thursday on Rendell's funding proposal, but several college presidents said they were pleased to hear it two weeks after the State of the Union address, in which President Bush proposed spending $250 million to fund partnerships between community colleges and employers in high-demand sectors.
"I'm encouraged by the governor's recognition of the value of community colleges, and the fact that we can be central to work force development," said Arthur L. Scott, president of Northampton Community College in Bethlehem.
But officials expect the proposed increase will likely not be enough to absorb increased costs related to enrollment growth.
Edna Baehre, president of Harrisburg Area Community College, anticipates that the spring semester enrollment will be about 15 percent higher than officials had projected. The college, which has branch campuses in Lancaster, Lebanon and Gettysburg, enrolls about 15,000 students in degree programs and 50,000 in worker training programs.
"The [funding] increase is still far short of what our actual costs will be," Baehre said. "It will continue to put a strain on all of us -- our mission is to serve the many students who are coming in, but all of us will deal with that."
More about the colleges
Community colleges offer two-year programs that enable students to either transfer to four-year schools to earn bachelor's degrees or work in specialized fields such as nursing and computer technology after graduation, as well as job retraining programs for displaced workers.
Although the schools are public institutions, they are established locally through sponsorships by school districts, counties or municipalities that petition the State Board of Education. College costs are shared by the local sponsors, students and the state.
State assistance for community college construction projects has been scant because the capital budget does not earmark any funding for them, Scott said. That money has had to come from the colleges' regular state aid, but that can only happen when enrollments are not high enough to deplete that money, Scott said.
"With enrollment growing so rapidly, there's no money left for capital projects," he said. "Some of us have decided to go forward, assuming that by [next year] the state will be able to participate."
HACC, for example, is trying to raise $7 million in private donations to help fund a $12 million academic building for medical programs, with construction scheduled to start in April, Baehre said. The college is also in the midst of a roughly $27 million expansion of the Lancaster campus; the current facility, which was designed for a maximum of 2,500 students, is trying to accommodate closer to 3,500.
Cambria County Area Community College -- at 10 years old, the state's newest community college -- is in the process of finalizing plans to consolidate four sites in the Johnstown area under one roof, said college president Anna Weitz.