Central New Mexico Community College’s Governing Board has approved a $295 million budget for the 2020 fiscal year.
The budget, which was approved Tuesday evening, includes tuition increases for some students and a 5 percent pay raise for faculty and staff. Students who go to the college to learn a technical skill, such as welding or plumbing, for the most part are the only students who will feel a tuition increase, according to budget documents.
CNM President Katharine Winograd said the budget also invests in expanding online courses.
In the 2020 budget, the cost of many Career Technical Education courses will go from $47 to $56 per credit hour for New Mexico residents, which brings the cost of those courses in line with other classes offered at the community college.
CTE courses are for students learning a technical skill.
Tuition for those courses, which at one time was free, has been increasing the last 10 years to make them comparable to other classes offered at the college, Winograd said.
She said next year’s budget brings an end to that decade-long increase.
Academic transfer courses, where credit can be transferred to a four-year institution, for New Mexico residents are going up $1 and will also be $56 per credit hour for in-state residents.
“Our tuition just generally is so affordable and we are able to do that because we keep our cost low,” said Pauline Garcia, the chairwoman of CNM’s Governing Board.
Faculty and staff at the community college are getting a 5 percent raise.
“It was a recognition that they work really hard and have had some great results in recent years,” Winograd said. “And (for) the things we’re going to ask them to accomplish over the next few years.”
A little more than $150 million of the budget will go to Instruction and General funding, $40 million is for capital outlay projects and $30 million will go to student aid, according to CNM documents.
The budget was unanimously approved by the college’s Governing Board, Garcia said.
“We also remain committed to keeping a CNM education as affordable as possible for our students and community,” Winograd said. “With the slight tuition increases, CNM will continue to provide our students with access to a wide variety of programs at a great value.”
