The Austin Community College Board of Trustees approved Monday a $141 ,563,000 operating budget for the college’s 2005-2006 academic year. The new budget expands and improves several ACC programs and services necessary to provide a quality, affordable education that assists Texas’ Closing the Gaps goal of attracting more students into higher education.

Trustees voted to increase out-of-district tuition by $5 per credit hour to $102, but maintained ACC’s in-district tuition at $39 per credit hour – the lowest among higher education institutions in the region.

“More than 50 percent of all area high school graduates and adults choose to enter higher education through ACC,” said ACC President Dr. Stephen Kinslow. “ACC has a tax rate among the lowest in the state, and is a critical resource for the Central Texas region.”

Additional revenue from the out-of-district tuition increase will be used for health and safety maintenance projects, and to offset a reduction in out-of-district tuition due to the recent election to expand the ACC tax district to include all of the City of Austin. Although students in the newly annexed areas immediately benefit from reduced in-district tuition, the College will not see tax revenues until fiscal year 2007.

“This budget enables ACC to meet its commitment to provide a quality, affordable education for students at all levels and to responsibly meet community and student demands for expanded academic transfer, workforce training, continuing education, and adult basic education,” added Kinslow. “This budget reflects ACC’s focus on student success.”

The ACC FY06 budget approved Monday:

* Expands the College’s innovative and successful College Connection program to the Manor, Hays Consolidated and Pflugerville ISDs;
* Funds a program to transition students from adult basic education, ESL and GED into college credit and certificate programs, as a Closing the Gaps strategy;
* Expands Help Desk services to assist students with enrolling and using open computer labs;
* Funds the addition of 15 new full-time faculty;
* Funds improvements to the student ID system;
* Expands multimedia classrooms to better support instruction and learning;
* Funds new programs such as Mexican-American and Chicano Studies, Associate of Arts in Teaching, and an applied program in Archaeology;
* Implements a standardized Early Alert System for faculty to identify students who need intervention strategies to keep them in college;
* Funds key South Austin Campus positions.

Austin Community College is a public, two-year college offering associate degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas at six Central Texas campuses. Serving as the regional leader in workforce training, university transfer and adult access programs, ACC opens its doors each year to more than 65,000 credit and continuing education students who benefit from the College’s great faculty and staff. ACC is the eighth largest community college in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Education.