Citizens Advisory Committee on Finance and Budget to the ACC Board of Trustees ACFB

1
Citizens Advisory Committee on Finance and
Budget to the ACC Board of Trustees (ACFB)

• Committee Members
• Kathie Schwerdtfeger (chair)
• Hunter Ellinger (vice-chair)
• Richard Borchard
• Kim Edwards
• Dolores Gonzales
• Toni Hunter
• Pete Palazzari
• Bob Rutishauser
• Gilbert Zamora

2
Early College Start Issues

• What are the financial impacts of free ECS
  tuition on ACC?
• Net costs of ECS instruction
• Effect on citizen willingness (in and out of
  district) to provide tax support
• What would the effects be of charging tuition to
  ECS students?
• Enrollment (ECS and regular students)
• Financial Need of ECS students

3
ECS Activity Summary

• Enrollment 6,266 courses 19,154 credit-hours
  (3.3 of total ACC enrollment)
• 30 in-district, 70 out-of-district
• ECS-student distribution by average annual family
  income for residence ZIP code
• 27 less than 50,000
• 34 between 50,000 and 70,000
• 39 more than 70,000
• Summer is largest semester for ECS students

4
ECS Department Distribution

• 24 English
• 22 Government
• 14 History
• 10 Economics
• 18 other similar lecture courses
• 12 other courses (e.g., computer sci)

5
Types of ECS Classes

• Regular ACC classes(70 of overall ECS
  enrollment)
• High-school class, teacher paid by ISD(8 of 43
  Fall 2004 sections)
• High-school class, teacher paid by ACC(35 of 43
  Fall 2004 sections)

6
Lower Costs for ECS Students

• No facilities student-support costs for
  high-school-based students
• Lecture courses are about half as expensive as
  ACC average
• ECS student-services needs are lower, even for
  campus-based students
• (Note many non-ECS students have a similar usage
  of ACC, and similar costs)

7
Estimates of ECS Net Marginal Financial Effects
(per credit-hour)

• After 55/credit-hour state reimbursement
• High School, ISD-paid 40/credit-hour
• High School, ACC-paid -17/credit-hour
• Campus-based classes -53/credit-hour

8
Estimates of ECS Financial Effect, Total Dollars

• FY05 net marginal cost about 0.8 million
• Including full overheads, about 1.3 million

9
Areas of Inadequate Information

• ECS-student financial need
• Estimates range from 5 to 50
• Effect of tuition on ECS enrollment
• Some low-income families may drop out, even if
  financial aid offered to offset tuition
• Some students may switch to AP courses
• Any ECS drop may be partially balanced by non-ECS
  students now crowded out
• Phase-in of tuition might reduce impact

10
Most Plausible Long-Term Policy Alternatives

• 1 Leave ECS free for all students
• 2 Adopt some combination of these
• a Charge ECS students net marginal cost
• b Waive charges for in-district ECS
• c Waive charges for high-school ECS
• d Offer financial aid or tuition waivers to
  students who demonstrate financial need

11
ACFB RecommendedECS Actions For Next Year

• 1 Either
• A. Leave ECS policy unchanged, or
• B. Charge 25/credit-hour for ECS unless
• i student is a resident of ACC taxing
  district
• ii student meets ECS financial-need criteria
• iii class is at students high school
• 2 Collect more ECS financial-need info
• 3 Investigate cost-sharing with ISDs