Butler County Community College students who take 12 to 17 credits may pay "full-time" tuition in the 2011-12 school year.

BC3 officials estimate tuition will rise to $1,590 per semester for a full-time student if the board of trustees approves the policy. Students who take less than 12 credits will pay $106 per credit.

Nick Neupauer, BC3 president, suggested switching from BC3's existing fee of $104 per credit for county residents at a meeting Monday with the Butler County commissioners.

Full-time students are more likely to use the field house and other services, such as counseling, that part-time students do not, Neupauer said, justifying the tuition increase.

County Commissioner Jim Kennedy voiced concern about raising tuition for those students who do not receive financial aid.

About 75 percent of BC3 students have at least part of their tuition covered by federal Pell grants, Jim Hrabosky, BC3 vice president of administration and finance, said.

The college has 4,400 students.

BC3 officials on Monday asked the county commissioners for the same amount of county funding in 2011 that the college received in 2010, $4.92 million, which includes the county's payment on a bond fund used to build the new Student Success Center.

The higher tuition costs come as the college sets aside $300,000 annually from its operating fund to build a computer network to connect all of its campuses, including those in up to 13 other counties. The system is expected to be built in 2013, Hrabosky said.

Also, college officials said BC3 is losing $770,000 in federal stimulus funds it received for each of the 2009-10 and the 2010-11 school years.

BC3 does not expect to experience the double digit growth in student enrollment it has in recent years, nor an increase in state funds to make up the loss, Neupauer said.

At the same time, the college has had budget increases of 6 percent annually since 1999, and its $3 million capital reserves have fallen to $2.3 million.

Among the capital spending projects planned are a new or renovated library and at least 150 additional parking spaces on its main campus in Butler Township.With employee contract negotiations slated to begin in July, Kennedy also asked BC3 officials about the variance between the pay raises negotiated with BC3 personnel and those received by county employees."How can we give money to BC3 when you are offering 4 percent raises that the county cannot afford?" Kennedy said.He suggested that the BC3 and the county work together to arrive at equitable raises.