In response to the prospect of a reported $3 million budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year, on March 27 the Board of Trustees of Raritan Valley Community College approved an operating budget for FY 2013 that includes a tuition increase of $15 a credit. According to President Casey Crabill, for a full-time student the increase will be $450 per year. The approved budget also reflected a restructuring of administrative functions which resulted in a number of staff layoffs and reclassifications, a reduction in the equivalent of 12 full-time positions.

One of the reasons for the budget shortfall is the substantial reduction in college funding by Somerset and Hunterdon counties. As originally envisioned, New Jersey community colleges were to be supported by an equal balance of state, county, and student tuition sources. This proportion of two-thirds public funding and one-third student tuition clearly reflected the founding vision that New Jersey’s public county colleges be primarily supported with public funds and only supplemented by tuition dollars.

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