OCtech working to find savings to offset tuition shortfall

“Overall, for the year so far, we’ve got a significant revenue shortfall in tuition. The good news is that we’ve identified some expenses and some other savings that are going to help us offset that,” OCtech Vice President of Financial Affairs Kim Huff said.

The college reported revenue of $16.5 million at the end of January, with expenses standing at $11.7 million.

“We do have a better idea of what our spring enrollment looks like. There are still some sessions that students have the ability to sign up for in the coming weeks. So hopefully we can add some students there, but our FTE (full-time equivalent) numbers are down,” Huff said.

“They were really down last year with the pandemic, and we were hopeful that they would rebound next year, but so far they really haven’t. So it’s been one of those years where numbers are down. The head count isn’t down as much as the FET, which shows us that students are taking fewer classes,” he said.

He said a $234,000 contingency fund is among the savings that college would be able to tap into.

“The contingency … has not been allocated yet, and right now we don’t know of anything … that we could use that for. So we could put that toward the shortfall,” he said, with additional savings available in travel, supply and salary savings.

“The one big one that’s still out there that really helps us are the federal HEERF funds. We’re going to be OK even with that large shortfall in our tuition. … What I’m worried about is what happens next year,” Huff said.

He said the university is thankfully able to carry over the HEERF funds for an additional year.

“We just won’t have as much next year available to help offset as we do for this year. So we’ve got some work in front of us to improve our enrollment, or to cut some expenses to help balance that budget for next year. But at least for this year, we feel good,” he said.

He reported that the college’s continuing education division was showing a profit.

OCtech President Dr. Walt Tobin said, “Our goal for continuing education is to generate 10% more revenue than expense. They are more than 10% ahead of revenue halfway through the year. So those folks have done a good job.”

Huff also reported on the college’s existing and future projects, including the removal of its machine tool program to Building T with the help of $2 million in state funds.

“We’re working with our architectural firm now to go through and determine what kind of electrical, mechanical upgrades need to happen in that building. And then we’ll use the remainder of the funds to purchase new equipment for that building,” he said.

Work is continuing on the replacement of the college’s digital sign, along with the renovation of its health science building, for which work has been delayed until the Joint Bond Review Committee meets.

“It may be that we don’t get the next level of approval until the end of March before we can go back to the architects and begin work in Phase 2. So that project may be hold for a few weeks until we can get that approval (from the JBRC),” Huff said.

The transformation of the downstairs portion of Building A into a student learning commons area is among the college’s newest projects.

“We don’t have an architect yet, but we are close to going out and seeking one. We have taken out all of the equipment in the kitchen area. A lot of that was old equipment that had been here for many years. Some of it went to state surplus, and some of it was auctioned off through the state,” Huff said.

“We’re trying to clear out that space so we can repurpose that space with some offices and create a new learning commons area downstairs. So we are going to be asking for proposals from architects in the next few weeks for that project as well,” he said.

Academic affairs

Williette Berry, OCtech’s vice president of academic affairs, said, “We’ve begun pulling and reviewing applications for those temporary grant positions and hopefully we will start interviews in the next two weeks.”

Berry said the college’s Feb. 11 spring convocation was a well-attended success.

“We had our normal college updates and division meetings. In addition, we hosted a session on mental health awareness and resources …” she said.

Student services

OCtech Vice President for Student Services Dr. Sandra Davis said, “We had some spring late start, or what we call mini-session classes, that started (Feb.7). We have some additional classes that will start on March 14.”

“We will also begin summer registration and fall registration on March 14.

Spring break will be March 7-11.

Other items

• The commission approved spending up to $100,000 on renovations to Building T.

“It won’t be using college funds, it’ll be using state funds,” Huff said.

• Approved a certificate in HVAC basics.

“We currently don’t have that offering, but we had been approached by industries to get a certificate where we could get some entry-level positions for students. It’s going to be a 33 credit hours, and that’s consisting of nine courses, six of which are lab courses,” Berry said.

She said the curriculum would be embedded into the college’s Integrated Education and Training, or IET, programs.