Genesee Community College's Board of Trustees, meeting at the Batavia Campus, approved an operating budget of $20,050,000 for the 2001-2002 fiscal year this evening. The budget will now be presented to the Ways and Means Committee of the Genesee County Legislature, sponsor of the college. The Legislature must approve the budget prior to its adoption.

The budget holds tuition steady for the sixth year in a row. If the budget is approved, tuition for full-time students will continue to be $1,250 per semester. Part-time students will pay $97 per credit hour.

The budget includes a $1,636,374 appropriation from the Genesee County Legislature, an increase of 3.1 percent over the county's current contribution of $1,586,374; increases in the cost of utilities ($103,700), health insurance ($303,676), and contractual salary increases ($402,377); and addition of new positions that include an Assistant Dean of Instruction and Secretary at the planned Campus Center in Dansville, a technology specialist, and a teaching faculty position.

Once again, Genesee's cost per FTE (full time equivalent student), $6,380, is expected to be among the lowest in the State University of New York.