Officials issue budget plan

http://clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051208/NEWS/512080382/1002/news

"Wayne Stonecypher, executive director of the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges, said the recommendations are better than he's seen in five years, even though his agency was not fully funded.

Stonecypher said the change will slow the rise in tuition and fees. He said tuition and fees have risen 66 percent in the last five years — from $508 per semester in 2000 to $864 this year.

...Higher Education Commissioner Tom Meredith said the College Board will seek some of the $87 million in unspent money.

"(The money) will enable us to put back some of the full-time faculty that we have lost after years of cuts," he said."