During the April board meeting, the Central Oregon Community College (COCC) board decided to increase the cost of tuition by $4 per credit starting in the 2022-23 academic school year. 

When meeting with Dr. Laurie Chesley, president of COCC, she mentioned that because of inflation this was a necessary action rather than an action the board wanted to take. The college wants to create affordable tuition for students but the college is also a business that needs to consider economic practices. 

All the resources that COCC uses such as supplies, new pandemic-related technology, and utilities are increasing. If COCC wants to continue to provide their well-rounded, time-changing education, then they need to increase certain expenses to be able to afford those utilities.

“I think it doesn’t make as much of a difference since the increase is so low. If it increases up to over $100 then that would be detrimental,” said COCC student Maria Knight when asked about the board’s decision to increase tuition. 

The cost per-credit is going from $109 to $113. The cost of tuition didn’t change last year because of the Covid pandemic, and the last time tuition changed was the 2020-21 academic school year when residency categories increased by 3%.