BUTLER TWP — As the state’s budget impasse drags into the latter half of September, nearing three months since its missed deadline, Butler County Community College is looking to hold steady with its finances.

BC3 president Megan Coval said at the Wednesday, Sept. 17 board of trustees meeting that community college presidents statewide had been hoping for a state budget to be passed early this week, but are now expecting the impasse to last into October.

Previously, the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges requested a 6% increase for operating budgets and a 6% increase in capital budgets for Pennsylvania community colleges.

Right now, the outcome of that request remains unknown, as colleges and local school districts alike deal with missed payments from the state.

Coval said she heard from lawmakers, state department of education employees and lobbyists at a retreat in Reading last week with the presidents of the commission’s 15 colleges. People felt hopeful about the budget being done sometime this week, she said.

“And then we learned yesterday that the impasse is continuing and we likely won’t see anything, probably, until October, in terms of a final budget, at the earliest. And that’s just speculation. So we’re paying attention to that,” Coval said.

Both BC3’s total general budgeted expenditures and its expected revenue for the 2025-26 year are $37.99 million. According to its August 2025 budget summary, the college expects roughly $11.75 million for the year in state appropriations.

Missed payments in state appropriations to BC3 for July and August totaled $5.21 million.

Jake Friel, BC3’s vice president for administration and finance, said at Wednesday’s meeting the state’s missed payments include funds that would go toward debt service payments for BC3. In July and August, BC3 made $943,000 in debt service payments.

“We would normally see some state reimbursement for our debt service in this report, they normally do issue their share, about 50%, which would be about $900,000, toward our debt service,” Friel said. “You can see in our expenditures we’ve had a lot of debt service payments we did make in July and August. With the state impasse right now, we haven’t received any state funding, it’s something to continue to monitor.”

Currently, BC3 is also not receiving any grant fund revenue that would be state funded or federally funded that are distributed by the state.

According to most recent reporting, state budget negotiations have continued to fall short. In the nearly 80 days since the General Assembly missed its deadline, the Democrat-led state House of Representatives and the Republican-led state Senate have offered several proposals, failing to compromise.

While local superintendents and county agency leaders have had to worry about how funding shortfalls could affect their operations, BC3, along with the 14 other community colleges that make up the commission, are among those who receive funds from the state government and have had to operate with uncertainty over when those funds will arrive.

While the impasse continues, BC3 is trying to hold steady with its current finances and overall financial picture.

Josh Novak, BC3’s vice president for enrollment management, said the college’s enrollment was expected to be down about 5% for this academic year, largely due to the college no longer offering credited classes at its Lindenpointe location. Currently, student enrollment has ended up being down about 3.5%.

Friel said for credit-tuition, finances seem to be in line with what BC3 had budgeted: around $3.657 million.

Friel also said BC3’s current finances are being helped by a federal grant of $5.2 million, “related to an employee retention tax credit,” that was designed for businesses to keep employees on payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. The college filed for that in September 2024.