By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The Barton Community College Board of Trustees approved tuition and fee increases for the 2024-2025 school year that is expected to generate more than $400,000 in revenue to the college.
Unlike their in-person courses, Barton online classes offer a flat rate regardless if you reside in Barton County or you are taking the class in a different country. Next semester's increases will take Barton's online rate of $155 to $160 per credit hour. Barton Vice President of Administration Mark Dean said many other junior colleges in the state have fluctuating online fees depending on where the student lives.
"Some colleges don't charge a fixed amount for online," said Dean. "If you're an in-district student, you get charged the in-district rate. If you're an out-district student, you get charged the out-district rate and so forth. You have a Butler Community College that is recording $100 a credit hour. If you happen to be an out-of-state student for Butler, you could be paying $190 per credit hour. They report their lowest rate."
Barton’s new rates will include $115 per credit hour for students that live in Barton County, an increase of $2. For international students, the same course will cost $218 per credit hour, an increase of $4.
In order to stay competitive, Barton will keep their tuition and fees at $50 per credit hour for high school students taking college courses.
"This is simply a guest...there are very few that are going to be lower than our $50," said Dean. "However, there are some that scholarship it 100 percent and have it at $0 for their in-district high school students."
More than 74% of the additional tuition revenue is expected to come from the online increase. Dean estimated a total of $411,411 in additional revenue from all the increases, a number that could go up if enrollment is higher than expected next year.