NEW CASTLE — Beginning Nov. 1, Butler County Community College will charge public safety groups a fee, on top of tuition, for training classes. The fee will vary with the training class, Susan Changnon, college spokeswoman, said.

“Since the state changed the funding formula in 2006, it’s been difficult for us to provide low-cost training,” said Jim Hrabosky, vice president of administration and finance.

BC3’s costs are rising 5 percent to 6 percent a year, Hrabosky said. With state funding cuts, the new training fees and full-time tuition will shore up the school’s budget, he said.

In addition, BC3’s lucrative college-in-the-high school program added $65,000 to BC3’s revenues, he said. The program gives high school students access to college classes.

The college has 4,167 part-time and full-time students this fall, which is down about 4 percent from last year, Hrabosky said.

Beginning this fall, students who are county residents are charged a $1,320 flat fee for 12 to 17 credits. For more than 17 or fewer than 12 credits, residents pay $88 per credit hour. Before this year, they paid $104 per credit.

Other state residents, such as those in Lawrence County, pay a flat rate of $2,640 for 12 to 17 credit hours and $176 per credit.

In other news:

• The college has formed a committee to consider expanding its Cranberry Township campus, Cranberry Center.

• The college opened its Linden Pointe entrepreneurship center in Mercer County on Wednesday.

• BC3’s literary magazine, Facets 2011, based at the Cranberry Center, received first place with special merit in a competition sponsored by the American Scholastic Press Association. The magazine was named Most Outstanding Community College Literary Art Magazine in the annual contest.