BUTLER TWP — Butler County Community College’s enrollment is down 3 percent this fall from last year, but student growth outside the county is fueling its revenue.

The college started its fall semester with 4,250 full- and part-time students, according to a report released Wednesday at the college trustees meeting. There is a reduction in full-time students and a spike in part-time students, according to Nick Neupauer, BC3 president.

He attributes the enrollment drop to the graduation of a large number of unemployed persons who were recruited to classrooms in 2008. Community colleges statewide pushed to get unemployed persons into class, and most also have enrollment declines, he said.

The college’s revenue is down $306,104, which is less than 4 percent from its projections. But its expenditures are less than budgeted too, down $103,488.

It expected to have $8.9 million in revenue by now, but has $8.6 million instead.

“We’re not far off on revenue projections,” Neupauer said.

The college’s budget is about $27 million this year.

Neupauer credits full-time tuition for county residents and out-of-county tuition, mainly from students in Lawrence and Mercer counties, with keeping the budget close.

Out-of-county tuition is twice what county residents pay, he said.

To further increase funding and diversity, BC3 may begin to recruit international students, he said. Foreign students would pay out-of-state tuition rates that are three times the rate that county residents pay.

Neupauer already has met with students from Indonesia and the Middle East.

The out-of-state tuition rate is less attractive to Americans than it might be to foreign parents who want their children educated in the United States, Neupauer said.

To accommodate international students and others, BC3 will begin a feasibility study to determine whether it would be profitable to build student housing on campus or in downtown Butler.

In addition to housing, BC3 would need to provide students with stepped-up police service, meals, health care and visa assistance, Neupauer said.

County residents comprise about 63 percent of BC3 students, and pay the lowest tuition because of a $4 million annual contribution from the county, which offsets students’ costs.

Even with recent tuition increases, full-time tuition is still “very affordable” for county residents compared to four-year schools, Neupauer said.

At the same time, BC3 is beginning another feasibility study to determine the goals of a capital fundraising campaign.