So-how ’bout that tuition
raise? Pretty frustrating, huh?
Sure, it’s not like Villanova,
where for this year, tuition
went up by the cost of an entire
year at Bucks, but it’s a matter
of scale and necessity. People
go to Bucks because of its low
cost and high quality education.
Of course, costs do go
up, and the college needs to
deal with that. But it’s still
frustrating.
There are particular reasons
that tuition has risen as much
as it has in the last several
years, probably the biggest of
which is a decline in outside
funding.
When community colleges
were started in Pennsylvania, it
was with the idea that they
would be funded one-third by
tuition, one-third by the sponsoring
county, and one-third by
the state.
Historically, for Bucks, that
has rarely applied: the state
has, up until recently, provided
one-third, but the county has
lagged behind, leaving students
to take up the slack, paying
more than their ideal onethird.
But now it’s gotten worse:
tuition pays for half of the college’s
budget. Part of the reason
is that a number of years
ago, the state changed the way
it funded community colleges
and put a cap on funding for
increases in the number of students,
so that, as Bucks
President James Linksz tells
me, after a certain point, the
more they grow, the less they
get per student.
That’s right-community
colleges essentially wind up
being penalized for having
more students! In a time when
everyone is saying that higher
education is the best way to get
out of the high unemployment
and low economy swamp
which is plaguing the entire
country, funding for the institutions
that are accessible to the
largest number of students is
dropping. (Because home sales
are down due to the recession,
county coffers are lower as
well, so our funding from there
is even lower-but we’ll save
that discussion for another
time.) It just doesn’t make
sense, does it?
In last week’s Centurion article
about the tuition hike, a
number of students said that
Bucks is still a good deal (yes,
it is) and the additional cost
would not be a deterrent.
Certainly, many students feel
the same way, and we appreciate
the dedication.
However, even this action is
only stop-gap; other things
may become necessary to offset
costs-things that may
interfere with that quality education
that brings so many
here. Think cutting courses.
Cutting back programs.
And much more.
They’re not happening here
yet, but they are strategies in
use elsewhere. The way to prevent
them is to get our other
funding up to where it should
be.
What can we do?
You can help.
Next week, you will see faculty
members staffing tables in
the cafeteria lobby and at central
spots on the Perkasie and
B r i s t o l c a m p u s e s .
They will have postcards to
state representatives and senators,
sample letters and talking
points, and sign-up sheets for
Community College Lobbying
Day.
Sign a postcard asking your
state representative to fully
fund the state’s share of the
community college budget.
Even more effective, write a
personal letter about your own
experience at Bucks to show
your representative how
important it is to appropriately
fund community colleges.
But best of all, sign up to go
to Harrisburg for Community
College Lobbying Day.
The Bucks County
Community College
Federation of Teachers (the
organization that represents
and is made up of Bucks professors),
along with the college
itself, is co-sponsoring a trip
for students, faculty, and staff
to the state capitol on Tuesday,
April 27.
There, we will speak with our
representatives about what the
college brings to its students
and its community and how
essential its improved funding
is.
To reinforce the message, we
also will give them your postcards
and letters-hopefully
bags of them.
If enough of us participate,
we can make ourselves
heard.

The bus will leave from the
college at 7 a.m. and return
around 5:30 that evening.
You can get further information
and sign up at the
tables, or contact John
Strauss at (215) 968-8177 or
[email protected].

John Strauss is a professor
in the Department of
Language and Literature
and president of the Bucks
County Community College
Federation of Teachers.