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By Aaron Lee
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | 978-7261

Published: October 16, 2008

State funding cuts to Piedmont Virginia Community College will sap funds from a vacant building the college had hoped to acquire and renovate.

Virginia’s community colleges took a 5 percent hit in state funding last week when Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced his plan to counter a projected $2.5 billion shortfall in revenue over the next two years.

During the summer Kaine asked all state agencies for proposals that would cut 5, 10 and 15 percent from their respective budgets.

PVCC President Frank Friedman said in an e-mail to employees this week that the 5 percent amounts to a loss of roughly $450,000 for the college. Friedman said that loss means money planned for renovations at the former Monticello visitors center will be removed from the budget.

The center, which sits along Route 20 at the entrance to PVCC, closed over the summer and remains vacant. College officials are working to have the building turned over to PVCC, which will use it to house its noncredit Workforce Services Division.

Friedman said the college hopes to take possession of the property in 2009, pending approval by Charlottesville and Albemarle County, which share ownership of the property. Should that happen, Friedman said, the college is planning to move into the building and make minimal upgrades until more money becomes available.

Getting the workforce programs into the visitors center has become a priority for PVCC officials as limited space at the college becomes more of an issue. When that money could come is unknown as college officials anticipate more cuts next year.

The most recent cuts are intended to be permanent and come on top of a 5 percent loss in fiscal 2007 that carried over to this year. Kaine said last week that a 2 percent pay increase for state employees, planned for November, will be put off until next summer.

In addition, when PVCC budgets for fiscal 2009-10, it will again have to find $452,239 to cut. Friedman said finding that money will require reductions in hourly and salaried personnel and saving on utilities and travel.

Friedman also said cutting some programs and services will likely be necessary, although a spokeswoman for the college said it is uncertain where those cuts will be made.

And while tuition went up $6 a credit-hour at the state’s community colleges this year, it could go up again next year, officials said. The decision to raise tuition would fall to the State Board for Community Colleges.

The board traditionally sets tuition rates in the spring, said Jeffrey Kraus, Virginia Community College System’s assistant vice chancellor for public relations. Kraus said he has not heard talk of the board considering a tuition hike.

All this comes at a time when community college enrollment is at a historic high - there are 15,000 more students in the states 23 community colleges than there were three years ago, Kraus said. PVCC has seen a roughly 5 percent jump in enrollment over the last two years.

Going forward, community college officials the concern is “the other shoe dropping” and leading to more cuts, Kraus said.

The recent budget cuts also hit the state’s four-year schools, with the University of Virginia seeing a 7 percent loss in state funding, or about $10.6 million. That money is in addition to roughly $9 million cut in fiscal 2007 and which was carried over into this fiscal year.

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