Laredo Community College - LCC Finances

LCC Finances

The 2012-2013 LCC budget is approximately $50 million. The student tuition and fee share of the budget have doubled in a decade from 18 to 36 percent. In March 2012, LCC trustees approved a 17 percent increase in tuition and pay increases for faculty and the classified staff.

The college property tax rate of $0.2365 per $100 of assessed valuation declined slightly in the 2012-2013 budget.

Enrollment for the fall of 2012 was 9,334, a decrease of 7 percent or approximately 700 students from the fall of 2011. Summer enrollment between 2011 and 2012 decreased by 12.4 percent. The institution in 2010 had 210 faculty and 300 classified staff.

LCC continues to focus on outreach to students through visits by recruiters at area high schools, community events, and businesses. The college also advertises through billboards, newspapers, radio, television, and on-line.

More than 60 percent of LCC students are part-time and enroll on average for 6.4 semester hours. Over a three-year period, part-time students at 6.4 semester hours pay nearly $32,000, with much of that cost government-subsidized for those of low income through programs such as Pell grants. Full-time students in that same period of time pay more than $40,000. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board determined that 66 percent of LCC students are deficient in mathematics. Tuition and fees at the institution in 2012 are $90.20 per semester hour.

On January 25, 2011, LCC President Juan L. Maldonado announced that projected budget shortfalls by the state would compel the institution to freeze some vacant positions, contracted services, and equipment purchases. Maldonado noted that LCC services must expand over the coming decade. He cited greater educational demand by virtue of an anticipated 60,000 to 70,000 new jobs created regionally through the Eagle Ford Shale exploration project.

The 2011-2012 LCC budget was $48.3 million, or a decrease of $1.43 million from the preceding year. The state reduced its funding to LCC from $17 million in 2010 to $13.5 million in 2011 in appropriations, health insurance, and retirement benefits. The $3.5 million reduction represents a decrease of nearly 21 percent in state funding for the institution. State funds are disbursed to community colleges according to student enrollment. Because of a decline in state revenues, the LCC board increased the property tax rate by 1.51 cents per $100 of assessed value. Three LCC trustees also proposed a one-time $300 bonus for faculty and staff, but the recommendation failed on a tie vote, with three other trustees absent or not voting. Hence salaries were frozen temporarily for 2011-2012 for the first time in many years. However, in December 2011, trustees unanimously awarded faculty and staff a one-time uniform $1,000 merit bonus payment.

In December 2012, the LCC trustees approved a $1.5 million plan to offer bonuses of 50 percent of the annual contract salary to encourage higher-paid senior faculty members with at least twenty years of service to the institution to retire earlier than they may have otherwise intended. Upon their replacement by beginning faculty, hired at much lower starting salaries, the college anticipates considerable net savings. Board president Cynthia Mares said that LCC expects to recover the $1.5 million in two years from overall lowered faculty salaries. Some 120 faculty members could qualify for the bonuses were they to retire in 2013.