CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Council for Community and Technical College Education changed its mind Wednesday and approved a seven percent increase for BridgeValley Community and Technical College.
The council rejected the request at its July 15 meeting but some new information has surfaced, CTC Chairman Butch Pennington said.
“They kept their tuition the same from 2010 all of the way up to 2013 and then in 14 (2014) and 15 (2015) they had a $73 increase,” Pennington said during Wednesday’s conference call meeting, adding other community and technical colleges have had tuition increases of at least 3.77 percent during that time.
Council member, state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette, voted against the increase on July 15 and again Wednesday calling it bad timing when considering the state’s economy. Burdette is also upset that part of the increase will apparently go toward a $1.1 million lease BridgeValley has been told to pay to the West Virginia Technology Park in South Charleston.
“I’m not for paying it,” Burdette said. He was the lone vote against the increase.
Back on July 15, the council approved a 7 percent tuition increase for New River CTC and a nine percent increase for Eastern CTC, which was seeking a 12 percent hike. The panel rejected the BridgeValley request along with a 6.8 percent increase request from Southern WV CTC and a pair of double-digit increase proposals from WVU at Parkersburg. The schools do not have to come to the state council if their tuition increases are five percent or below.
BridgeValley has campuses in South Charleston and Montgomery.