Sinclair Community College prides itself on having the lowest tuition in the state, and even with a tuition increase of $4.40 per credit hour, this Winter Quarter, it will remain the lowest.
Sinclair President Steve Johnson said tuition will increase because of one priority, quality.
“We believe that it is necessary to maintain quality,” Johnson said. “Quality means quality professors, equipment, software, library and support services. If we don’t have that quality or capacity then we have to turn students away, and to me that is unacceptable.”
Montgomery County residents, out-of county residents and international students should expect an annual tuition increase of $198 this year. With the tuition increase, Montgomery County residents will pay $879 per quarter for 15 credit hours.
State funding, tuition funding and levy funding are the three major sources of money and factors that will determine if Sinclair will raise its tuition, according to Johnson.
“If we don’t raise tuition, we would have to cut students, quality and expensive programs such as nursing, dental hygiene and Information Technology,” Johnson said. “But those are the exact programs that this community needs. We don’t want to raise tuition but we have to raise tuition to maintain our quality and our capacity to serve 25,000 students.”
For Sinclair, an increase of $198 translates to about a 9 percent hike, but Johnson said that Sinclair’s tuition remains the lowest and most affordable in Ohio.
“The good news in all of this is that our quality and capacity will be there and tuition will still be the lowest in Ohio for Montgomery County residents and among the lowest in Ohio for students living outside of the county,” he said.
Montgomery County residents, who are enrolled in 15 credit hours per quarter, currently pay on average $2,439. With the new tuition increase of $198, Montgomery County students will pay $2,637 this year.
“I’m really happy that we didn’t have to cut enrollment or any other programs. We’ve maintained really high quality — hardly any of our students leave here and say my education is worthless,” Johnson said. “We are going to raise tuition to keep them happy with those things.”