Butler County Community College's board of trustees adopted a balanced $35.7 million budget for 2020-21 that does not raise tuition or student fees.

The budget, unanimously approved Wednesday, is based on a 10-percent enrollment decline due to uncertain fall enrollment because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tuition and fees for students from Butler County will remain at $170 per credit. Students from other counties in the state will pay $270 per credit for face-to-face, remote and blended instruction courses.

All students will be charged an additional $25 per credit for an online course. A lab fee of $35 will be charged for certain courses.

Revenue from student tuition and fees is projected at $14.5 million, down from $16.7 million from the 2019-20 budget.

“The budget does not include any tuition or fee increases,” said Nick Neupauer, college president.

Budgets with 5-, 10- and 15-percent drops in enrollment were considered, but 10 percent was selected, said Jim Hrabosky, vice president for administration and finance.

The school hopes fall enrollment will follow the summer class enrollment pattern set this year. Summer enrollment was 20 percent below last year's figure, but surged to 8.19 percent above last summer's numbers just before classes began.

Neupauer said a new budget reflecting actual enrollment numbers could be presented to the trustees in December.

“It gives us six months to evaluate,” Neupauer said.

As of May 20, 1,159 students signed up for 12,231 credits for the fall semester.

Normally, more students would have enrolled for the fall by this time in the summer, but many students and parents are likely waiting to learn how BC3's campuses will operate in the fall.

“We have people sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how this is going to play out,” Neupauer said.

A fall campus opening plan presented to the trustees Wednesday gives students four options for taking classes, including face-to-face, online learning, remote learning and a combination of face-to-face and remote.

The budget includes $300,000 in savings from a 5 percent cut in discretionary spending in all departments, Hrabosky said.

To balance the budget, $780,000 was transferred from budget reserve funds, but less of that money will be used if enrollment increases.

BC3 has received $1,882,832 from the CARES Act Emergency Relief Grant Fund.

Half of the funds, $941,416, are for student grants and the college has distributed 78 percent of the money. About 1,632 students have received a total of $734,400.

The other half of the funds will cover COVID-19 related expenses, but the college is waiting for federal guidance for spending the money.

In addition to the $14.5 million in revenue from students, other major sources of revenue in the budget includes $10.5 million from the state, $5.4 million from the county, $925,000 from borrowing.

Major expenditures include $22.2 million for salaries and benefits, $3.3 million for supplies and services, $3.4 million for building and site improvements, $2.7 million for debt service and $1.1 million for utilities and insurance.