Nassau lawmakers approve $185 million NCC budget, with no tuition increase
Nassau Community College in Garden City. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Nassau County legislators on Monday unanimously approved a $185 million Nassau Community College budget that keeps tuition stable for the second consecutive year and taps into more than $15 million of reserve funding.
The 2023-24 budget is 0.7% higher than the adopted budget from the previous year and factors in a 2.5% growth in enrollment.
NCC Interim President Maria Conzatti told legislators fall enrollment appears to be more than 11% higher, signaling a reversal of the steep drop the school has seen over the last few years.
But in a June 23 report, the Office of Legislative Budget Review said a 2.5% increase "could be very challenging for the college to achieve" after the significant declines it has experienced. In 2022, enrollment was down 10.5%, and in 2021 down 16.9%, said OLBR Director Maurice Chalmers.
Chalmers said his office projects a 2.9% enrollment decrease this fall.
"The NCC administration may need to come up with a strategic plan and initiatives to increase the figure," the OLBR report said.
Conzatti said over the last year the college has launched a plan in preparation for its next accreditation review in 2025.
"Our enrollments are moving in a very positive direction as we look to be very comprehensive," Conzatti said, referring to the addition of more vocational and trades programming at the college. She said a grant from the state allowed for more vocational classes, and a pipeline from BOCES has attracted students looking to enter the trades.
NCC, with about 20,000 full-time and part-time students at its 225-acre Garden City campus, is the largest single-campus community college in the state system. Tuition is $2,900 per semester or $5,800 a year for full-time students.
State and county funding, along with tuition, each are supposed to fund about a third of NCC's annual operating budget.
During the pandemic, when college enrollment declined nationwide, NCC was kept afloat with federal Higher Education Emergency Relief funding, which has since been exhausted. The 2023-24 budget is the first year without the stimulus money, according to legislative budget officials.
After using $15 million in reserve funds to plug its deficit, the college will have $10 million remaining, or 5.6% of the 2022-23 operating budget. The college must maintain at least 4% in its fund balance, according to the OLBR report.
Faculty union representatives, currently in collective bargaining talks with the administration through a mediator, say the college has lost professors through attrition but has added administrators at a cost to the educational experience.
Faren Siminoff, president of the NCCFT, which represents the school's full-time faculty, said she was "appreciative of the county's financial support" but had hoped legislators would "demand the college's budget reflect adequate expenditures."
"The college's budget continues down a path which puts students' real needs to the side in favor of expending taxpayer dollars on a bloated and ballooning administration," Siminoff said.
Suffolk County legislators last Wednesday unanimously approved a $210 million Suffolk County Community College operating budget that raises tuition by 3.1% for the first time in four years.
Full-time tuition is expected to rise by $170 to $5,640 for the 2023-24 year.
With Vera Chinese
Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.
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