From staff and wire reports

AUBURN – For the first time in six years, community college students will have to pay more to go to school.

Trustees of the Maine Community College System on Wednesday reluctantly approved an 8.8 percent tuition increase. Under the new rates, which take effect this fall, the more than 10,000 students at the seven colleges will pay about $180 more per year, bringing the average tuition bill for a 30-hour course load to $2,582.

Officials said the system has been dealing with rising health-care costs and other expenses for years, but soaring enrollments allowed them to keep tuition rates steady. On Wednesday, they said they couldn’t hold out any longer.

“There is just a point you just can’t do without a tuition increase,” said Scott Knapp, president of the Central Maine Community College in Auburn.

Along with the increase, the system will eliminate 35 jobs and make cuts to some programs. Knapp said the Auburn campus will not lay off employees. “This is going to be enough for us to maintain status quo,” he said.

Trustees originally froze tuition six years ago in an effort to bring Maine’s technical college costs in line with those of other states, system spokeswoman Alice Kirkpatrick said. Tuition remained frozen when technical colleges became community colleges two years ago.

Maine’s technical college costs were second-highest in the nation. Today, Maine is ranked seventh, with average tuition this year $326 above the national average of $2,076. The New England average is $3,086.

Enrollment has soared in the past three years, due largely to the switch to the new system, which increased course offerings, said Kirkpatrick. Administrators said state appropriations have failed to keep up with cost of running a growing college system.

“Basically, our growth is catching up with us and the state’s budget has not turned around,” said Kirkpatrick.

While enrollment has grown 58 percent, the system’s appropriation from the Legislature has risen about 3 percent, from $40.2 million in 2002 to $41.5 million in 2005.

The Legislature increased that amount by about 2.6 percent – to $42.5 million – for 2006, about $3.3 million short of what the system needed to pay for rising health-care costs and increased demands on services, said John Fitzsimmons, president of the college system.

Fitzsimmons said trustees were keenly aware that many students hold down several jobs and that a tuition increase poses a financial burden.

He said program cuts, which are still being worked out, will be phased in over two years so that students already enrolled will be able to finish their courses of study.

“We know price matters,” he said.