2015

EC keeps tuition among state's lowest Students see small By DemetriusThompson news@newtoncountyappeal.com leges announced tuition increases, withMississippi Gulf Coast Commu– nityCollegemaking the biggest jump at 20.1 percent.

tensive process here, and what a registration fee does is to allowus to try to recoup some of the staff time, supplies, material and all the thirlg-s that go into the registration process," said East Central Presi– dent Billy Stewart who is .now in his third year as the school's top execu– tive.

. increase while college grows

East Central was listed as the smallest increase at 0.9 percent, which was the result of the registra– tion fee increase from$40 to $50 per semester. ''The reasonwe raised the fee was because registration is quite an ex-

For the second straight year,East Central CommunitYCollege avoided increasing tuition prices and stu– dents will only have to pay a total of $20 more this school year. Earlier this month, nine of the state's 15 community andjunior col-

See Tuition, 7A

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in about a $600,000 increase " he said. "Now the reason ~t is so high is because our col- leges ?-re fupded through FI'E, (full-time equivalent). They take all the credit 110urs that you generate for everyclass a s~~~t registers for and they divide it by 30 hours - 15 in the fall, 15 in the spring- and they basically come upWith a num– ber and a Portionof YOUI· fund– )! ingis based on that:We had a tremendous increase in the i.s number of credit hours that ~ we generate anct the reason for that is we went from being

East Central serves - Leake Neshoba, Newto~, Scott and Wmston - in keeping tuition Jow. "Over the past five years, county appropriations have gone up a~ut five percent,., Stewart said. '"We're verv pleased and thankful for that because we have that to relv on.'' • Stewai·t also credited East Centrars budgeting staff, who have fotmd ways to save fu.ndc; and cut costs. "For example, in November 2012, wewere notified that we qualified for a different rate ~chedule than a residential property." Stewart said. "Be– cause of the gas that wo used, we were able to buy it on the open market so we worked

~th ~consultant who helps us identify om· need and then we b1~r that on the open market. ~ One year we spent about S95,000 and in another year we spent like $50,000 so we s~ved $45,000 in a year by Slillply doing that change. It's not just Billy Stewart, as a matter offact, it has verylittle to do with me. it has everv– thing to do with folks that suP– ports us in what we're trmng to do." ,,~

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Y !ull-timeat 12hourstorequir– 'J 91 ua', mga student to be at 15 hoUI·s t to be full-time and that's he1p- Stewart also citCd the sup- UO 9 ~ ( port of the five counties that IOOLIOS P UOlM9 NaC ful to the student."

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