NICEVILLE — Northwest Florida State College’s overall budget will remain largely unchanged in the upcoming budget year.
After delaying the final approval because the state was slow to pass its budget, the Board of Trustees approved a $33.6 million budget Tuesday morning.
“It’s a snug budget, it’s not a crippling budget,” said NWF State President Ty Handy. “... Every budget year gets a little tighter.”
It remains largely unchanged despite even less state funding for facility maintenance. Expense cuts were made in areas like travel and equipment to make it happen, according to Randy White, the newly selected Vice President of Administration and the school’s chief financial officer.
As a rule of thumb, if employees can’t drive to meetings or conferences, the college won’t pay for them to go.
The approved budget does include a 1 percent pay increase for employees.
“It probably doesn’t keep up with inflation, but it’s something,” Handy said.
If NWF States sees enough of a fall enrollment increase, Handy said he might approach the trustees about adding a little more for staff.
Tuition rates and student fees were approved last month. Overall tuition decreased slightly, but some fees increased – the college is now going to charge $25 per semester for parking privileges.
Initially it looked like the college was going to lose $342,000 worth of performance funding, but it is working with state officials to ensure they don’t lose any of it, White said.
The potential loss came after the legislature changed the performance criteria from nine measures to four: job placement, wages, retention and graduation rates.
The trick is, in order to get full points for graduation rates, students pursuing a two-year degree must complete it in three years. At NWF State, the majority of students are part-time, so that time table is often not a reality, White said.
“A community college exists to serve whatever the community wants,” he said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
