By BOB OLIVER
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — Seven months ago, Henry Ford Community College seemed to be on the road to bankruptcy and possibly closing it’s doors, something Vice President of Financial Services John Satkowski said the college needs to remember as it moves into a more stable financial position.
“We entered the fiscal year on July 1 looking at a $16.7 million shortfall, which the budget passed by the board was expected to reduce to a $6.8 million shortfall,” Satkowski said. “Now we are halfway through the year and with all of the changes the college has made we are projecting a swing of over $8 million, leaving us with a surplus of $1.23 million.”
At the HFCC Board of Trustees meeting Jan. 21, Satkowski said the college has adjusted the budget of the current fiscal year and is expecting $76.3 million in revenues against $75 million in expenditures.
The budget approved by the board last May had the college bringing in $75.1 million in revenue while spending $82.1 million.
Satkowski said increases in tuition fees, which the college did before the Winter 2014 semester, is allowing the college to budget in the additional $1.2 million for the current fiscal year.
He also cited several expenditure changes made by the college that helped reduce its deficit, including lowering the bad debt it incurred from students receiving financial aid and not attending classes by $2.1 million and lowering operating expenses by $600,000.
If a student registerers for classes and then doesn’t attend, the college has to pay the government back for any grant money the student received. In March 2013, the college was projecting that number to be as high as $12.1 million, but the actual number came in at $8.1 million, which Satkowski said the college is expecting to reduce to $6 million.
Satkowski said the college also saved $450,000 by leaving some vacant employment positions open rather than filling them and $2.9 million by having 17 college employees accept early retirement plans.
“The biggest changes in expenditures were in the personnel department, where we were able to save $4 million and in benefits, where we have saved $2 million,” Satkowski said. “Renegotiating contracts with faculty and staff and keeping a really close eye on our expenses has really helped us.”
Satkowski acknowledged the collective work of HFCC employees in fixing the school’s financial woes but said it would be detrimental to stop now.
“We’ve come a long way and there has been a lot of hard work done by a lot of people at this college to turn this around,” Satkowski said. “But if we want to build up our fund balance we have to continue on this path.”
Trustee Aimee Schoelles said it had been a “hard year” for everyone on the board and at the college.
“It wasn’t all luck that has brought us back to a positive financial situation, because there was a lot of hard work involved by many people,” Schoelles said, “but I do feel that we are lucky to be where we are.”
Trustee Mary Lane said she hopes the college is able to build its fund balance back up, but not at the expense of raising the tuition or somehow negatively affecting the students.
“We can’t go after every dollar that we can carve out of students and their families,” Lane said. “That shouldn’t be our focus.”
HFCC President Stan Jensen said his administration has had preliminary discussions on next year’s budget and that they have no plan to raise tuition and fees.
(Bob Oliver can be reached at [email protected])