Pierpont Board of Governors approves 10% tuition hike, cites inflation as cause
Mar. 22—FAIRMONT — The impact of inflation is finally catching up to West Virginia's community colleges.
Tuesday afternoon, the Pierpont Board of Governors met for its monthly meeting to discuss several matters of business. The most notable of which was a proposed 10 percent increase to the college's tuition rates.
Pierpont Vice President of Finance and Administration Dale Bradley said the school hasn't raised tuition since before the pandemic and that rising costs coupled with a national seven percent inflation rate have pushed many community colleges around the state to this point.
Originally, Bradley calculated that a seven or seven and a half percent hike would be enough to balance the college's budget. However, after the state legislature passed a bill increasing the employer's cost share of Public Employees Insurance Agency coverage by 25 percent, a 10% hike was more realistic to handle the PEIA spike.
Around the state, some community colleges have increased their tuition by five, six or seven percent over the last five years, Pierpont opted to not raise tuition throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite this, Pierpont is the most expensive community college in the state, with ranging costs depending on field of study. The average in-state tuition is $5,086 per year and $12,056 for out-of-state tuition.
With the passage of Tuesday's changes by the board, in-state tuition will jump an average of $500 per year and out-of-state tuition will rise around $1,200 per year.
"Inflation rate has been going up, so our costs have increased," Bradley said. "We first looked at internal cost savings, but like any other business, when you're faced with increased costs you sometimes have to pass that on to the customers, no matter how much you like to avoid that."
According to Pierpont Interim President Kathleen Nelson, community colleges around the state are grappling with the same problem and Pierpont's peers are moving in a similar direction with increasing tuition.
Nelson and Bradley both believe the tuition hike will only effect about 10 percent of the student body, as most of the increase will be covered by grant and scholarship money.
"There's been a lot of discussion about how this PEIA change will impact us, but we were already hovering about that seven, seven and a half [percent increase to tuition] mark prior to that," Nelson said. "Unfortunately, we could not sustain that to have a balanced budget next year."
The board has whittled the search for a new president down to three candidates.
Tuesday, the board deliberated in a closed executive session for nearly two hours discussing the three candidates after their recent visits last week to campus. Upon exiting the closed session, the board immediately moved to adjourn, with no announcement to give.
Board Chair David Hinkle said he and the board tentatively agreed to reconvene in early April to make a final decision and an official announcement.
"There's a lot of information that the board members went over today that we felt we needed to go back and absorb what we went over today to make the right decision," Hinkle said. "This is a very big decision for the school and there was a consensus that we not rush it, because we want to make this a long-term candidacy and a long-term commitment to the college."
Nelson will continue to serve as the college's administrative head until the end of her contract on July 1.
Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.
