Chevalier argues that a portion of the $3 million Fed funds for Covid-19 relief surplus held by the College should be used to cover certain future expenses rather than increase student tuition
The Yavapai Community College Governing Board met Tuesday, October 19 to decide whether to increase student tuition for the 2022-23 academic year. The early decision on tuition is made necessary because the College begins to “package” financial aid material in November of this year.
After about a 20 minute discussion, the Board voted 3-2 to approve the Administration’s request of an average 3% tuition increase covering all three tiers of classes offered at the College. Third District Governing Board representative Paul Chevalier and Fourth District representative Chris Kuknyo voted against the increase.
Mr. Chevalier argued that unless there were restrictions on the use of the approximate $3 million of “surplus” unspent Covid-19 Federal relief funds now in the College’s hands, a portion of that money should be applied to the budget rather than increase tuition for 2022-2023. The Administration responded to Mr. Chevalier asserting that it was not certain about whether a portion of the $3 million could be used to cover the tuition increase. Moreover, it felt it was a bad idea to use one-time excess funds to cover annual operating costs.
The Community College estimates the increased tuition will result in additional revenue of about $268,000 from that source of unrestricted income.
You may view a portion of the discussion about the budget and the need to increase tuition in the edited video clip below.
