Sinclair increases student fees to generate another $2.2M annually

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Sinclair Community College’s board of trustees has approved measures to increase student fees and allocate money for a new students services center.

Sinclair students will begin paying a $7 per-credit-hour career services fee in spring 2018. The fee comes as Sinclair had planned to increase tuition by $7 before plans for that were nixed when Gov. John Kasich vetoed tuition increases at community colleges until fiscal year 2019.

“This seven dollars is actually a revisiting, a redo of the $7 that you had already decided on back in June,” said president Steve Johnson.

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Sinclair’s board also allocated $13 million for an integrated students services center that will serve as a “front door” on the downtown Dayton college campus. The state will chip in $2.5 million while Sinclair will get the remaining $10.5 million from its reserve fund.

Construction on the new student center is expected to start in the spring of 2018 and be completed around the same time in 2019, spokesman Adam Murka said.

“It’s to put a front door on the campus so students know exactly how to go in and get started so they can go out and get the job that they need,” Murka said.

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Sinclair’s board ended its meeting today with an executive session to discuss real estate as well as employment and compensation.

Sinclair officials have been in talks to purchase Far Hills Church in Centerville. The college could spend between $6 million and $10 million on the 40-acre property near Interstate 675 in southeast Montgomery County, officials said in July.

Sinclair has signed a refundable purchase option, giving it first right of refusal on the sale of the property, Johnson has said.

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