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Going up at SPC: Fees, tuition and salaries

Students will pay more to attend St. Petersburg College, while faculty and staff members can expect 3 to 4 percent pay raises.

Raises for faculty and staff and higher tuition and application fees for students are on the way at St. Petersburg College.

Under the college's newly approved $72-million budget, the current $25 application fee will rise to $35 for the 2004 spring semester. This is the first time in 10 years the application fee has gone up, said SPC President Carl Kuttler.

That means the school will see an estimated $154,400 in new money.

"The fee is very small and it does give us a little tiny bit of income," Kuttler said. "We're almost paying people to apply, so we're trying to recoup some of that cost."

Most schools charge as much as $150 in application fees, Kuttler said. SPC's fee offsets costs for free transcripts, he said. The state-authorized tuition increase means an extra bundle of money for the college, though it doesn't completely offset education costs, Kuttler said. The school is not enforcing an enrollment cap, but it will not have money to create extra classes for students who register late and might be shut out this fall.

"What we're trying to do is not to water down the quality of education," Kuttler said. "There is no official cap, but the strain is on. We've not added many new sections."

Nearly 76 percent of the budget is spent on salary and benefits, Kuttler said. Faculty will see a 4 percent salary increase and most staffers will see a 3 percent increase, according to the budget.

The college expects basics like electricity, recycling, telephone and garbage services to cost $3.6-million next year.

SPC will also spend $4.9-million on a number of projects including the Largo-based EpiCenter business/college complex, which will eventually house an electrical engineering degree program and a master's of business administration program through SPC's partnership with the University of South Florida. Other money will go toward a joint library with the city of St. Petersburg.

The school is not planning on cutting student activities like sports or theater.

"Generally we're just maintaining what we were doing," Kuttler said.

The bulk of the school's money comes from a combination of tuition, money given directly to SPC by the state and SPC's carryover of money not spent from last year. The state gave the school about $48-million. Tuition makes up about $22-million. The rest comes from small amounts like the money made from school vending machines and federal grants.

Some students say they are not hit especially hard by the 7.5 percent increase in tuition.

Recently relocated student Tonya Curtis is happy to finally qualify for in-state tuition, which now is $58.24 per credit hour, as opposed to out of state tuition, which is $217.10 per credit hour.

"We just moved here from New York, so it was pretty pricey," said Curtis, 32, who is working toward an associate's degree at the Clearwater campus before transferring to the University of South Florida. "Now, it's less."

Business student Tim Davis, 20, said his education is mostly paid for by state grants anyway. He suggests struggling students seek help from campus organizations.

"There are groups on campus to help that will loan you books and calculators," he said.

- Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com

For students in the upper division who are pursuing bachelor's degrees, tuition increases by 8.5 percent. For students in the lower division who are pursuing an associate's degree or taking continuing education classes, tuition increases by 7.5 percent. Here are the comparisons per credit hour:

In-state, lower division: $58.24

In-state, upper division: $69.12

Out-of-state, lower division: $217.10

In-state, lower division: $54.25

In-state, upper division: $63.79

Out-of-state, lower division: $202.16

- Source: SPC