About 4,000 Blinn College students from Brazos County will be paying more for tuition next year, while almost 14,000 other Texas residents will be paying less.
That’s after Blinn’s board of trustees changed how the college charges tuition.
Trustees without disagreement deleted a rate category where students from Brazos and other counties inside Blinn’s service area had paid less compared to the rest of the state.
Administrators wanted to drop the category to be consistent with the 49 other community colleges in Texas.
Starting in the fall of 2016, Brazos County students will pay the same as the rest of the state.
Trustees on a 5-2 vote established an out of district tuition rate at $107 dollars a credit hour. That’s an increase of $5.00 a credit hour for students from Brazos County and others inside Blinn’s service area. For other in-state students, except those from Washington County, that’s a decrease of $10.00 a credit hour.
Trustee Atwood Kenjura of Brenham voted against the $107 rate because that meant giving up $1.4 million dollars of revenue at a time when Blinn is facing a tight budget while building the new west Bryan campus and an uncertain future of state assistance.
Trustee Ann Horton of Bryan, who voted for the $107 rate, says students will appreciate the new rate schedule.
Trustee Nancy Berry of College Station, who voted for the $107 rate, says the majority of students paying less next year will speak loudly.
Joining Kenjura in voting against the $107 rate was Charles Moser of Brenham. Joining Horton and Berry were Brenham trustees David Sommer, Douglas Borchardt, and Teddy Boehm. Richard Powell and Stacy Ashcenbeck of Brenham were absent.
In Washington County, where Blinn has a small property tax for facilities and maintenance, students will pay $50 dollars a credit hour next year, which is an increase of $2.00 dollars.
Blinn’s out of state students will have the largest increase next year, from $200 to $260 dollars a credit hour.
Trustees also approved a general fee increase from $46 to $51 dollars.
