BBCC finances in good shape, bad debt low

MOSES LAKE - After a bumpy financial ride during the last few years, Big Bend Community College is in the black and is starting to recover from budget cuts suffered during the worst of the recession.

"Our financial indicators are good," Gail Hamburg, vice-president of finance and administration, said. Hamburg delivered the financial report during a board of trustees study session recently.

Hamburg said the college will go into the 2013-14 academic year with total revenues of $17.3 million and an operating budget of $15.4 million. The college will receive about $6.9 million from the federal Pell Grant student aid program, Charlene Rios, the college's director of business services, said. That's the same amount as 2012-13, but a slightly smaller portion of the total financial aid grants, Rios said. State-funded grants based on student need have gone up slightly, she said, and are about $2 million.

Students are paying back their loans, Hamburg said. College officials decided to make extra efforts to work with students to reduce long term debt, and loan defaults and late payments have dropped, she said. "We have very little long-term debt."

In answer to a question from trustee Mike Villarreal, Rios said that about 75 percent of the college's students receive financial aid.

Rios reported that the Associated Student Body fund is running a deficit and may continue to run deficits during the academic year. But the food service department, which ran a deficit in 2012-13, showed a profit in September and may break even for 2013-14, Hamburg said. Administrators met with food service operators, the operators did some tweaking, she said, and the changes seem to have improved the revenue picture.

Hamburg said the dorms are projected to break even or operate at a profit in 2013-14. In answer to a question from trustee Mike Blakely, Director of Residency Hugh Scholte said all six floors in both dorms are in use.

College officials are installing security cameras to cover both dorm parking lots and the bus stop, Scholte said. They've also expanded the presence of security officers, with an additional person working Thursday through Sunday nights, he said.

Tiffany Janasov, the new coordinator for the multi-year grant the college received through Air Washington, reported the effort to recruit students for the college's aviation program has resulted in 91 sign ups. The target is to sign up 126 new students, she said.

With a separate Air Washington grant the program will be able to offer certification in composite materials maintenance, Janasov said. That program could start as early as winter quarter 2014.