CMC Board of Trustees approves changes in tuition discounts

At its meeting in Rifle on Monday, the Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees unanimously voted for modifications in tuition discounts, including expanding the college’s “in-district” classification to include Colorado residents, and their dependents, who also own residential property in the six-county CMC district.

This means that for the first time, students with second homes in the CMC district, who are also Colorado residents, will be able to take advantage of the most affordable tuition in the state: $57 per credit hour for associate-level classes, and $99 per credit hour for bachelor’s-level classes. Previously they were eligible for higher in-state tuition rates.

“Second homeowners are paying property taxes, and those tax revenues allow us to keep our tuition the most affordable in Colorado for our in-district students,” said Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser, president and CEO of the college. “This seems a more equitable approach.”

The trustees also approved limitations on eligibility for the Western Undergraduate Exchange program, a regional program that provides discounted tuition for students from several Western states. Students already participating in the WUE discount are grandfathered in.

At the board’s previous meeting, for the 2015-16 academic year trustees approved a zero increase in the tuition rate for in-district students enrolled in associate-degree-level courses. At that meeting they also voted for zero increase in tuition for in-district, in-service-area, in-state and out-of-state students in bachelor’s-level courses. These tuition rates are among the most affordable in the state.

“Over the past year, our trustees have been considering a long-term strategy on tuition pricing,” said Hauser. “These are the type of targeted discounts that will help to stabilize our revenues and enrollments, simplify tuition rates and realign college resources to support students.”