Butler County Community College used $1.9 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to offset revenue loss from a decline in tuition and enrollment in the 2020-21 fiscal year, and plans to use more to offset a projected $1.7 million budget deficit in the current fiscal year.

BC3 administrators on Wednesday reviewed the use of the relief money for the board of trustees during a virtual meeting.

James Hrabosky, vice president of administration and finance, used $1.9 million from $2.9 million in Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) Institutional Share grant money to offset revenue losses, including $1.36 million from lower-than-projected revenue from tuition and student fees in 2020-21.

About $500,000 from the same relief fund was used for technology upgrades and to pay off past due student tuition bills, he said. Paying off those unpaid student accounts allows those students to enroll in new classes, he said. Previously, students with unpaid accounts were not permitted to take new classes until their debt was satisfied.

Paying those expenses left $491,565 in the CRRSAA Institutional Share account.

Expenditures at the end of the fiscal year were $2.2 million under budget, which allowed the college to end the year with revenue exceeding expenditures by nearly $1 million.

The $3.2 million BC3 received from the American Rescue Plan Act Institutional Share will be used to balance the budget for the next 24 months, including a $1.7 million deficit projected for this academic year, Hrabosky said.

After the meeting, he said the college is facing the worst financial picture it has faced in the past 12 years.

The budget was prepared with an 8% decline in enrollment factored in, but the decline was larger than anticipated, he said.

Total credits in the fall term were 2,211, a 12% slide from the fall 2020 semester, and enrollment was 2,132, an 11.7% decline from fall 2020.

In a summary of all federal COVID-19 funding, BC3 received just over $13 million and spent $5.3 million.

The college received $941,416 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act Student Share and the same amount in Institutional Share funding.

All of the Student Share money was distributed as grants to students with financial needs. From the Institutional Share, the college has spent $725,200 on face masks, equipment needed to outfit classrooms for social distancing and computers for students who needed them.

The $941,416 in (CRRSAA) Student Share funding was distributed to students as grants.

The $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act Student Share funding the college received will be used for student grants.

The $810,100 BC3 received in two rounds of funding from the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund will be spent on education technology upgrades for remote instruction. About $300,000 has been spent so far.