As costs continue to rise for the college, which has more than 1,000 students enrolled, it is ending a coronavirus pandemic-era tuition freeze and raising its rates slightly for the first time in four years, as well as asking Franklin and Essex counties to contribute more toward its operation.

Funding from NCCC’s three revenue sources — students, Franklin and Essex counties, and the state — has stayed flat for the past four years. Though inflation has increased the cost of operations for the college, President Joe Keegan said they were willing to “bear some discomfort” to make things easier for students and the supporting counties.

They’ve had a healthy fund balance to draw on, but the college has been running on a deficit for several years, according to NCCC interim CFO Erik Harvey.

A public hearing on the budget before the Franklin County Legislature was held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 1 in the legislative chambers on the fourth floor of the county courthouse in Malone. A vote on the budget was scheduled for later in the day.

The Essex County public hearing was held Monday, July 29. Keegan said no members of the public spoke at it. The board will vote on the budget on Aug. 5. at its meeting at 10 a.m. The board meets at the old Essex County Courthouse through entrance number three.

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Tuition increase

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The college had frozen its tuition fees since 2019, so students have been paying the $2,640 per semester they paid back then. Out of state residents paid $3,960 per semester. Keegan said they held this as long as they could and are proud they were able to do so.

The college’s board of trustees has approved a 2% increase to tuition for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic started, which will take effect in the fall semester.

The 2% increase will bring state-residing students’ tuition to $2,692 and out of state students’ tuition to $4,039 — an increase of $52 and $79, respectively

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County increase

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Harvey said the funding model for community colleges assumes that the state, counties and students each contribute 33% of the revenue to the college, but NCCC currently gets around 23% from its counties.

“Ideally, they are equal parts,” Keegan said.

For the past four years, he said NCCC did not ask for an increase as they recognized the tight financial situation counties had with the pandemic.

With inflation driving costs up, the college is now asking both counties to increase their aid by 3% annually. This would come to around $39,000 more per county this year — still below the ideal formula, but closer.

Each county contributes $1.29 million towards operations and $50,000 towards critical maintenance capital projects.

This coming year, Harvey calculates that students will be the largest revenue source for the college, producing 42% of NCCC’s funding. The state comes in next, pitching in 26%. The counties produce 23% of the revenue — 11.5% each. The 9% left comes from the NCCC Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit which provides scholarships to students and raises funds for the college, and from other various incomes.

A decade ago, students contributed 39% of the annual revenue — less than today — the counties contributed 22% — around the same as today — and the state contributed 28% — slightly more than today.

Keegan said he couldn’t speculate about if the counties will approve this increase, but said they’ve been “generous” in the past. He said NCCC is grateful for their support.

When Harvey brought the budget proposal to Essex County, county Manager Michael Mascarenas said this is “not a huge ask” and called the budget “responsible.”

Keene town Supervisor Joe Pete Wilson Jr., who was the coordinator of the Learning Assistance Center at NCCC many years ago, said he supports approving this budget.

Minerva town Supervisor Stephen McNally said he personally would like to see more Essex County students at NCCC. Currently, he said the ratio of students from Franklin and Essex counties is 3:1, respectively. If they’re contributing the same amount of money, he said he wants to see more students from his county learning there.

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The budget

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The college is proposing a $15,970,453 budget while anticipating $15.49 million in revenue.

The budget anticipates a $338,000 revenue increase — 2% more than the past year — and proposes a $600,000 increase in spending — 4% more than the past year.

To cover this gap, the college is planning to transfer $484,000 from its reserves. These reserves are projected to end Aug. 31, 2025 at $4.9 million. These reserves are equivalent to 31% of NCCC’s total unrestricted net operating costs. The SUNY system recommends this to be at 15%, but Harvey said all college stakeholders feel that is too low.

The main costs going up are in health insurance and other types of insurance, technology upgrades and energy utilities.

Harvey said health insurance premiums have risen 20% since 2021-22, “with no end in sight.” The same goes for property, liability, auto and cyber insurance premiums.

The budget includes contractual raises with a 5%, $333,000 increase in salaries and a 4% increase in benefits.

“The college budget continues to run at a deficit but has avoided an institution wide reduction in force or cutting of NCCC’s biggest asset, its people,” Harvey wrote.

Harvey wrote that the college is cutting some positions through attrition, not backfilling all of them when a staff member retires or leaves. He said staff analyze each vacant position to determine if it should be refilled.

Harvey said that some management staff elected to not take raises last year as a measure to control costs. This budget reinstates those raises.

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Enrollment projections

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Enrollment at NCCC has been up for three consecutive semesters since spring 2023, after a dip during the coronavirus pandemic. NCCC Communications Director Chris Knight said they’re shooting for a fourth year of enrollment increases and they’re currently seeing good indicators just a few weeks before the fall semester begins.

Knight said 105 students have registered to live in the college’s dorms, putting them at capacity with a wait list of 20.

“The college is still operating with caution,” Harvey wrote in his budget summary. “Although most of the pandemic related uncertainty has dissipated, sentiment towards higher education remains historically low creating a barrier to enrollment rebound.”

The college is projecting 1,020 full time students in the coming year, 43 more than last year, or a 4% increase. Core enrollment makes up a projected 885 of these students with the Second Chance Pell prison program adding another 135. The college is assuming the Second Chance Pell prison program and high school College Bridge programs will have slightly higher enrollment in the coming year.

Applicants who have confirmed their intent to enroll for the coming fall semester are up by 2% compared to the fall of 2023. At this time last year, confirmed applicants was flat over 2022.

The college is anticipating in-state and out-of-state enrollment to be 640, to be 39 more than 23-24 a 7% increase.

NCCC is assuming out-of-state enrollment will be flat but in-state enrollment will increase by 5% from last fall because of new expansions, initiatives and grant-funded scholarships — an expansion to the nursing program introducing a spring-start in January, a new childhood education pathway and workforce development grants.

The college has grants from the SUNY High Needs, Nursing Emergency and Transformational Fund program; the U.S. Department of Labor; and the state Education Department for students in a range of needed workforce jobs. It also has new micro-credentials and scholarships for people in specific fields, including micro-credentials for people planning to work with people with developmental disabilities; scholarships for students in chemical dependency programs with money from opioid settlements NCCC’s “6 on Us” scholarship promotion which allows new or returning students with a three-year gap to get their first six credits for free — typically a cost of $1,250 to $1,500. Students who do not qualify for this one can apply for the college’s “Opportunity” scholarship fund.

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Capital budget

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The budget includes what Keegan called a “very modest” $300,000 capital budget for infrastructure work. One-third of the capital budget is funded by Essex and Franklin counties with additional reimbursements and the other half by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.

Last year, Harvey said NCCC finished “the first significant investments in (the Saranac Lake) facilities in a generation or more.” This year brings plans for more behind-the-scenes infrastructure upgrades to the nursing buildings on all three campuses with a DASNY grant.

The college also plans to upgrade the Sparks Athletic Facility and field on the Saranac Lake campus with a new scoreboard, vestibule to the gym, refurbished locker rooms and bathrooms and upgrades to the pool’s mechanical system.

Harvey told the Essex County Board of Supervisors that this building has “taken a back seat to just about everything else for 40 years.” He said he finds it “cringe-worthy” that the building the public sees most when they come to the library, gym and pool is in the worst shape out of all the campuses.

“When I was a student in the late 1980s, it looks a lot like it did then,” Keegan said.

With the now-open Adirondack Rail Trail running right by the gym, he said they want the building to look nice.