Earlier this week, the WCC Board of Trustees approved a new tuition rate structure for the 2023-24 school year. Unfortunately, they did not take the opportunity to relieve the Washtenaw County taxpayers of the ongoing subsidy we provide for out-of-district and out-of-state “distance learning” students.
An out-of-district student who wants to take a class on campus will now pay $184 per credit hour in tuition and fees. That same out-of-district student who takes an online class will pay $140 per credit hour in tuition and fees. That’s a 24% discount given to out-of-district student compliments of the Washtenaw County taxpayer.
An out-of-state non-resident student who takes classes at WCC will pay $264 per credit hour. That same student who takes online classes at WCC will pay $150 per credit hour. The out-of-state discount is even better – 43%.
The in-district student who wants to take an online class at WCC will pay tuition-and-fees of $127 per credit hour. That’s a premium of 28% over the in-person rate. To be clear, WCC charges in-district, resident taxpayers 28% more per credit hour to take online classes but gives discounts of between 24% and 43% to students who do not reside or work in Washtenaw County, and who may never even set foot in Washtenaw County.
WCC uses Washtenaw County’s tax dollars to reduce the tuition of out-of-district and out-of-state students but charges our own residents a premium to take the same damned online class. This is what we get for our $70M? And the Board of Trustees is silent on the matter – except for one Trustee who pats himself on the back for advocating for low in-district tuition immediately before voting to increase tuition and preserve the discounted attendance costs for out-of-district and out-of-state students.
Washtenaw County taxpayers deserve better representation
Washtenaw County taxpayers have invested literally billions of dollars into WCC in the past six decades. We have done that for the betterment of Washtenaw County residents. Who thinks that WCC should use our tax dollars to lower the attendance costs of individuals who do not live, work, or pay taxes in Washtenaw County, and who will return nothing to our county? Apparently, the WCC Board of Trustees believes that Washtenaw County taxpayers can afford to educate the world.
If I read the budget details correctly, in 2020-21 – the last year for which both attendance and budget information are available – WCC’s instructional expenses were about $55M. During the same period, WCC delivered 227,755 credit hours of instruction. That means the cost of delivering each credit hour was about $240. (That doesn’t include the cost of any student services, support, or campus maintenance – just instruction.) Additionally, the county property tax collection fully underwrites WCC’s instructional expenses.
So, in 2023-24, if we can assume that the true cost of instruction (only) is around $250 per credit hour, why isn’t WCC attempting to recover the full cost of instruction for non-resident students who do not otherwise support the WCC campus and its operations?
WCC was built for and exists for the benefit of Washtenaw County. Offering substantially discounted online tuition for out-of-district and out-of-state residents is an abuse of the taxpayers’ generosity. Especially when our own residents pay a premium to take the very same online classes. This needs to be stopped. And instead of acting in the best interests of the Washtenaw County taxpayers, our elected Trustees support this.
Photo Credit: Ken Lund , via Flickr
