In the virtual work session on Monday, the Grand Rapids Community College Board of Trustees met to discuss the previous fiscal year leading into the new school year, the budget, construction at the Holland Campus, and the upcoming semester.
During the session the college approved refunding facility bonds previously issued in 2012. Dave Murray, Director of Communications at GRCC, stated that this move means the college could “potentially save $1.4 million in interest payments by obtaining a lower interest rate.”
Lisa Freiburger, Vice President for Finance and Administration, went on to speak about the financial status of the college for the fall 2020 semester. Currently the school’s revenue is down due to Michigan reducing $2.1 million worth of state aid, pulling 11% worth in allocations. GRCC did receive more in personal property tax this year compared to previous years which helped offset the loss of state aid.
For fiscal year 2019-20, GRCC will be very close to the budget estimate, including the addition of approximately $1.2 million in refunds. However, tuition is down. Summer enrollment was on target with the projections for the first session, with the second summer session being larger than the first. The school also wasn’t able to start nursing and dental cohorts weren’t able to begin during the first summer session, which is another factor in the low tuition rates.
GRCC’s expenses were also down, generating savings for the school. The school implemented what President Bill Pink called a “hiring frost” instead of a “hiring freeze.” GRCC also ended all student employment and part-time employment. Due to events being cancelled the school also saved in travel expenses.
Much like this year, Freiburger is anticipating another 11% cut in state aid in the 2020-21 school year, however that has not been confirmed. Currently, billing units for fall 2020 is 8.4% off of enrollment compared to this time last year. With two weeks for students to still enroll before classes start the school is 17% off of projected enrollment.
“Not completely atypical for us,” said Freiburger. “We have a number of students that enroll in the last couple of weeks before classes start. It would not surprise me if we ended a little bit off of our enrollment targets.”
This is the first year for the Promise Zone class enrolling in GRCC. Currently the number of students is lower than expected, but GRCC is anticipating higher Promise Zone enrollment in the winter and in fall 2021.
GRCC is allocating the CARES Act money to all student-focused items. This would be the online class fees that were waived for summer classes and for both fall and winter of the 2020-21 semesters, as well as covering the cost of students retaking classes from March.
GRCC received $2.1 million in federal money from the Coronavirus Relief Fund. However, the college does not have final regulations on spending yet, but are planning on using it to help with institutional costs related to the pandemic. This will potentially all be spent on technology to aid students.
GRCC’s service area staff is back on campus due to students returning to campus. Counselors and advisors are available for appointments in-person or virtually.
“We’re trying to be as mindful as possible,” said Pink. “By the time we get to the semester, we’re probably anywhere from about 18-20% of our classes on campus. We are the vast majority in the virtual world, about 80% of the offerings are virtual.”
Pink also gave updates on the Lakeshore Campus, which is currently in its architectural phase.
“We still firmly believe that although the pandemic had us all shut down for a while, we still believe we are going to be on track for a fall 2021 opening of the facility,” said Pink. “When we are in that space I want the four letters, GRCC, to be so big I want people on the other side of Lake Michigan to see those four letters.”
GRCC partnered with Metallica two years ago through the All Within My Hands Foundation. Wolverine has recently come onboard with that partnership and is providing free work boots to three colleges around the country, one being GRCC. The 15 students in this cohort will have their tuition covered as well as a new pair of workbooks paid for by the aid of this foundation.
Pink brought up the monitoring reports, those being the infrastructure and sustainability and community impact. GRCC is focusing on improving on campus sustainability, however it’ll be more difficult to reach the recycling goals with fewer students on campus. The institution is also changing many of the community impact caps to better fit student needs and aid. This will help students with career readiness and increase K-12 college connections.
The Board of Trustees is scheduled to reconvene on Sep. 21 for a regular meeting.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated 7:47 p.m. to clarify that the GRCC Board voted to approve the refunding of facility bonds.
