MVCC freezes tuition as part of 2020-21 budget

UTICA, N.Y. — The newly approved budget for Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) includes a freeze on tuition and student fees and no layoffs.

The 2019-20 tuition cost for full-time students who are New York residents, U.S. active military members and dependents is $2,297 per semester. The cost for out-of-state and international residents is $3,446 per semester, according to the MVCC website.

The MVCC board of trustees approved the budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which begins Sept. 1.

“In light of projected enrollment declines,” the more than $50 million budget includes a reduction in state aid due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The spending plan is also nearly 2 percent smaller than the current budget, with no aid increase from Oneida County, the community college said in a release.

MVCC closed the gap through a combination of reductions in department operating budgets, programming, and not filling job vacancies. The school also was able to “identify and allocate” one-time funds from the MVCC Foundation, Auxiliary Services Corp., and its budget fund balance to further close the gap.

MVCC received its CARES Act grant funding allocation of $2.1 million and plans to later apply it to the fund balance, “if permitted to do so,” in anticipation of an additional 20 percent to 50 percent mid-year cut to the college’s base state aid, the school said.