The proposed operating budget of $199.2 million marks an 11 percent increase over the current FY07 budget. The Trustees adopted the budget at their monthly board meeting this week and will formally transmit it in February to Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett. The College’s total appropriation request to the County—including self-supporting units, such as those of its Workforce Development and Continuing Education and Auxiliary Services divisions—is $240.7 million.

As proposed by the Trustees, the College’s budget would include a tuition increase for the next academic year of $3 per credit hour for in-county students, $6 per credit hour for in-state students who live outside of Montgomery County, and $9 per credit hour for out-of-state students. The current tuition rates for each of these groups are $93 per credit hour, $191, and $257 per credit hour, respectively. Students also pay a variety of fees, in addition to tuition. On average, a full-time student who takes 15 credits a semester and lives in Montgomery County currently pays just over $3,700 in tuition and fees, annually. To offset tuition increases, the budget proposal includes additional scholarship support and financial aid funding for students in need. Final tuition and fees for the next academic year are set by the Board of Trustees in April.

“This is a budget that balances the College’s need to keep pace with continued growth and with the needs of a student population that is becoming increasingly younger,” said Dr. Sylvia Crowder, chair of the Board of Trustees. “With enrollment continuing to rise, we must be able to respond to the additional demand for our programs and, at the same time, ensure that we continue to provide the highest quality teaching and support services for our students.”

Some of the key initiatives that would be funded in the College’s FY’08 budget plan include:

• Adding 27 new faculty members to increase the full-time/part-time faculty ratio to 61 percent/39 percent and to provide a comprehensive array of courses, particularly in the high demand areas of English and the sciences.
• Expanding the number of financial aid staff available to support students.
• Boosting the amount of available need-based scholarship money for students.
• Improving academic programs, support services and resources, such as tutoring, instructional assistants and software.
• Supporting the new First Year Experience (FYE) initiative, a comprehensive series of activities, programs, and courses designed to orient new students to college life.
• Opening the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Art Center at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus. The center will house community and student art studios, classrooms and faculty offices for the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus’ fine arts program and the School of Art and Design at Montgomery College. This new facility, built as a result of a major renovation of the former Giant Food bakery building on King Street, just off Georgia Avenue, is part of the continued expansion of the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus.
• Opening a renovated office building on Goldenrod Drive, adjacent to the Germantown Campus, for college use. Secured by the College last year with County support, the facility will be used for classroom and office space for the Germantown Campus, and will be shared with the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, which will use its space for a high-tech incubator.
• Providing for salary enhancements for faculty and staff, consistent with collective bargaining agreements and other County agencies.

Montgomery College’s budget must go to the County Executive, for his review, as he prepares to submit a proposed fiscal year 2008 County operating budget to the County Council by March 15. The Council has until the end of May to approve a final County operating budget, which would include its appropriation for Montgomery College, among other public agencies. The Board of Trustees will adopt the College’s final operating budget in June, after the budget has gone through the County process.

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Montgomery College is a public, open admissions community college with campuses in Germantown, Rockville, and Takoma Park/Silver Spring, plus workforce development/continuing education centers and off-site programs throughout Montgomery County, Md. The College serves nearly 60,000 students a year, through both credit and noncredit programs, in more than 100 areas of study.

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