WCJC to get state funding
Tuition and fee cost increase no longer necessary
By BARRY HALVORSON bhalvorson@journal-spectator.com

There will be no increase in tuition and fee costs for Wharton County Junior College students with the announcement the state of Texas will be restoring $154 million in health care funds to the state's 50 community colleges.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Tom Craddick jointly announced that the funds would be replaced in the state budget on Oct. 23. Perry initially vetoed the funds from the budget on June 16. In a recent phone interview, WCJC President Betty McCrohan expressed her appreciation to everyone who supported the college during the potential fiscal crisis.

"I want to thank all the citizens who spoke up for higher education in general and WCJC in particular," she said. "A lot of people worked hard on our behalf sending letters and messages and several chambers of commerce approved resolutions supporting the college. I appreciate everything done on our behalf."

In a previous interview, Mc- Crohan said the college had been looking at a drop-dead date of Oct. 30 to decide on any tuition rate increases for the Spring semester or for the 2008- 2009 academic year before the announcement the funds would be replaced. The $154 million included $1.8 million in state contributions to WCJC.

McCrohan said the college was considering a $10 increase in tuition rates and additional fee increases to replace the lost funding.

"We won't have to do that now and we never wanted to do it in the first place," McCrohan said in a phone interview Thursday.

In an Oct. 25 news release, McCrohan offered her personal thanks to Dewhurst, Craddick and Perry, as well as local legislative supporters including State Senator Glenn Hegar and State Representatives John Zerwas, Charlie Howard and Dora Olivo for "their leadership in securing the return of these critical funds."

McCrohan added that Hegar and Zerwas, along with the residents of the college's taxing district and service area were instrumental in helping prompt the change of heart on the part of the governor.

"We did quite a bit shortly after the veto was announced," McCrohan said. "The college held a press conference that helped get our supporters very involved. Zerwas and Hegar put on the pressure and met with Dewhurst and appeared before a number of committees. We sent out letters and received letters of support that our local legislators took forward to the state for us."

McCrohan said the college's administration was forced to consider the tuition increase because while the state had pulled the funding for health care, the college was still mandated to provide it to employees.

"They didn't give us an option," she said. "What it meant was that any money we had set aside for pay increases would have gone toward funding those benefits. And we're already at a disadvantage when it comes to hiring professors.