Sheepskin prices increase

It will be a little more expensive next fall for full-time students to attend Blue Ridge Community College and the other 22 Virginia community colleges.
The State Board for Community Colleges approved a $6 per credit hour tuition increase on Thursday for 2008-09.
That means a full-time equivalent student attending BRCC and other community colleges will pay about $180 more for 30 credit hours. The full-time student will pay just under $2,600 per year in tuition.
Blue Ridge President James Perkins said community colleges are still a bargain in Virginia despite the increasing tuition.
“Our tuition is about one-third of the four-year public supported colleges,” Perkins said.
Perkins said next fall’s tuition increase will help offset a $500,000 cut in Blue Ridge’s operating budget that came last year as a result of Virginia’s budget revenue shortfalls. And the tuition increase will also help with increased financial aid at Blue Ridge.
Perkins anticipates that the tuition increases will continue on an annual basis for the forseeable future. “I don’t see it slowing down,” he said.
Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia’s community colleges, said the tuition increase was difficult but necessary.
DuBois said following Thursday’s decision “that we are working hard to hold
tuition to the lowest possible level while striking a careful balance between affordability and quality.”
Meanwhile, Perkins said some positive news for Blue Ridge happened at Thursday’s state board meeting.
The board agreed to expand Blue Ridge’s shuttle service starting in August to include evening hours.
The shuttle travels from both Harrisonburg and Staunton to the Blue Ridge Weyers Cave campus on the hour during the day.
The fall expansion will include new shuttle hours of 6, 7, 8 and 9:30 p.m.