Stan Geiger

TCC: Gigantic Money Sponge

As noted, back in the mid '90s I did a little study of TCC finances, drawing from the school's own budget figures.

In FY93, or the '92-'93 academic year, TCC's total budget was $41.1 million. In FY97, or the '96-'97 academic year, the total budget was $52.1 million. In just 5 years, the college's budget grew by $11 million, or 26.7 percent.

The increase was made possible by a $4 million bump in state appropriated money, a $2.9 million bump in local property tax money, and a $3.4 million increase in money stolen from students.

Oh, my heavens, did I say "money stolen from students" out loud? What I meant to say, of course, was "tuition and fee revenue."

Continuing, I got a communique from Tulsa World reporter Omer Gillham in June 2003. He reported TCC's budget for FY04 had been set at $73.9 million. He also reported the state contribution for that year was $27.9 million (up over $3 million from '97), local property tax revenue for that year was $26.8 million (up over $11 million from '97), and that tuition and fee revenue was $17.76 million (up over $7 million from '97).

I believe I saw a KOTV report last year that said the school's budget now tops $90 million.

Take a look and that track record and tell me how badly TCC needs the millage on your home increased.

According to my man XonOff, if TCC's request for a tax hike is granted by voters, the college will be bringing in more than its total FY93 operating budget in property tax revenue alone.

Now, let's take a really good look at the tuition and fee revenue growth. I find that particularly interesting.

In FY93, TCC's tuition and fee revenue was $6.9 million. In FY97, it was $10.3 million. That's an increase, in percentage terms, of a whopping 49 percent in a 5-year span. In FY04, the number had grown to more than $17 million---way more than doubling in just 11 years.

The thing is, during my short tenure at TCC in the mid '90s, all the talk was about constantly-declining enrollment. So in spite of the fact that fewer paying customers were signing up, revenue coming in from tuition and fees increased dramatically. That's an indicator of just how heavy the tuition and fee hikes have been over the years.

In the library was an archive of all the annual catalogs since the school opened for business as Tulsa Junior College in 1970. I pulled the first one to see what the cost of attending was at the beginning. A credit hour cost, as I recall, 6 bucks and change. If you had a twenty in your pocket, you could take a standard college class.

At the time I took that look, the cost of a credit hour at TCC was about 6 times what it was in 1970. I'm pretty sure it has doubled since, and is now a good 10 times more expensive than in 1970.

I know there's been some inflation over the years. but, dude, get real.

I was amused by the chatter of the day. The brilliant academics just couldn't seem to get a grip on a basic economic principle: When you raise prices, and keep raising prices, and keep raising prices, there is a pretty good chance you'll lose business.

Well, it seems the light bulb finally came on not too long ago. After jacking up tuition and fees and book costs (TCC owns its bookstores, by the way) for years and years, the college, all of the sudden, decided to start giving it away.

There are parameters, like living in Tulsa County and graduating from a Tulsa County high school, I believe, but if a student meets the test, a student can go to TCC for free. No tuition, no fees, no book costs.

The college is claiming its enrollment is up 18 percent since 1999, and claims that as an excuse for the tax increase. I'm not sure I buy the claim. TCC lies. It lies a lot. Maybe I'll get time to get deeper into that later.

In the meantime, does it not seem counterintuitive that an increase in enrollment would lead to the need for a tax increase? I mean more students equals more revenue, right?

Ah, but perhaps a rub lies therein. If, indeed, TCC has seen an increase in enrollment---lately---the students aren't paying.

I suspect the folks at TCC got so desperate for rumps in the seats they decided to let people show up for free. I mean a school without students has little reason to exist. But, at the same time, they don't want to give up the revenue that provides for their annual pay raises and lavish benefits. Hence, they want homeowners to make up the difference. That's what I'm thinkin'.

Next up, I'll take at look at the '93-'97 comparison and show you where that additional $11 million in spending went. That should serve to support my claim.

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